Brooding Lust
by TalysAlankil
Summary: A retelling of the badfic Brewdening Love, turning the "twu wuv" story into an epic intrigue. Includes lots of fanon around the fic, and original vampire mythos.
1. Prologue

"What is _she_ doing here ?" Britney Epieu let out. She had just seen, from across the school's parking lot, a face she wished she'd never see again : Joan Smith, a girl who had spent the summer vacations here in Forks. Britney had hoped to never see her again.

Britney was a cheerleader in Forks High, and fit the common stereotype about those : blonde, naturally curvy, fit, and very strong-tempered. Bitchy, some called her, but always behind her back, when she or her posse couldn't hear. Britney had every boy at her feet, except for a few freaks and nerds, and many girls wanted to be her. And yet, the queen of Forks High had her first day at school ruined. A long night the day before, quite a hangover in the morning, and now Joan being apparently a new student in _her_ school.

Joan was one of those weirdoes who believe themselves popular because a couple friends have told her she was — overconfident in everything she does. Daughter of the mayor Hugo Smith, she had spent several years in a private school, not returning to town very often or making any friends, until she reappeared in July this year. She had become quite the religious freak in the meantime, but you could only tell that by her necklace, a shiny cross. Other than that, her clothes were quite regular, if strangely arranged, and her make-up was actually outrageous enough to shock even Britney herself.

However, what repulsed Britney about the girl was not her appearance : that Joan's problem was, really, her beliefs. When they met, Joan's first words were : "Are you a Christian too ?" When asked _what_ branch of Christianity she actually meant — Britney was, technically, part of the Presbyterian Church —, Joan's only reply was that there was only one true belief. Mistaking this as tolerance, Britney had hung out with her one afternoon, at the end of which Joan's cries of "That's not really Christian !", "God hates you for doing that!" or "That's not fair ! Why has God allowed this ?" had worn Britney's patience off, to the point she had almost punched her in the face after she was told, flat-out, that Britney was a good friend for being less "sexah" than Joan herself. Apparently, Britney had found in Joan someone who could actually out-bitch her.

Moving with her posse to her first class — French literature, forced on her by her French mother — Britney was disappointed once more in seeing the Joan girl was actually with her. However, she noticed what the other girl had seen when entering the room : Edward Cullen. The mysterious boy, part of a family of adopted siblings, was quite a good-looking guy, if you like the broody, pale kind, and one of those freaks that didn't like Britney. She couldn't help but watch Joan and Edward gazing at each other, then the boy looking away, in what seemed like disgust. _Not __as__ much__ a__ freak __as __I__ thought,__ in__ the __end_, she muttered to herself. Joan was now whipping the air with her long brown hair, in what may be an attempt at gaining attention, but reminded Britney of a cow trying to get rid of flies with her tail. The Cullen guy looked again, as did everyone, likely fearing to get hurt by one of the hairpins holding the girl's hair together. When he looked away again, Joan started to frown. _Well,__ what __did __you __expect__ ? __Even __I __couldn't __get __a __boy __acting __like __that_.

The mad girl then walked up to Edward, everyone looking carefully at her, fearing she might do something crazy once more. She then sat on Edward's desk. No one dared talk anymore, so Britney heard him clearly, despite sitting at the other end of the room.

"Who are you, and why are you sitting on my desk ?" he asked.

He looked darker than Britney had ever seen him, and from where she was she had the impression that his bronze eyes had gone pitch black — a ridiculous thought. The girl didn't seemed bothered by his… less than polite ways and winked at him.

"You're cute."

Wait, _that_ was her answer ? Doesn't she know that a question usually begs for an answer ? What Britney might have had of esteem for the girl vanished suddenly. She wasn't only crazy or stupid, she was completely oblivious to the world around her ! Fortunately, the torture of watching her ended when the teacher entered the room and Joan found a seat at the back of the classroom.

Finally, the class ended, and for the rest of the morning, Britney didn't have to stand the weird girl any longer, apparently not being together. She had already ordered her posse to gather information about her, especially her timetable, in case they had any more courses in common.

At noon, when Britney walked down the hall to the cafeteria to meet her friends, she heard a noise in her back. Turning around, she saw a silhouette running through a door, leading to the school's large park. Wishing to know who that was — and why he didn't go to lunch like everyone —, she headed for the door herself. Whoever it was, after all, learning dirty secrets is always a good thing.

"What are you doing, Miss Epieu ?" Mr Saltzmann, Biology teacher, had glimpsed her.

"Nothing — Just preparing a surprise for everyone in the park. You know, making publicity for the cheerleaders !" She counted on Saltzmann's friendship with her parents to make him a little more lenient than he should.

"Fine, young woman. Just remember — don't do anything stupid. I believe we'll see each other right after lunchtime, won't we ?"

"Yes, Mr. Saltzmann."

"See you later then."

And he walked off. Finally alone — everyone was in the cafeteria by now —, Britney went in the park, to see the silhouette going into the woods that bordered the school grounds. Entering those woods herself, she tried to keep up with the mysterious figure, but soon realized she had lost him. Until she heard a noise behind her, like the wind blowing very hard. She didn't have the time to turn, though, before she felt something sharp burying deep in her throat. Unable to even scream, she fell on the ground. She caught a final glimpse of brown hair before everything went dark.


	2. Chapter 1 — Apocalypse

Joan was still a bit starry-eyed after her encounter in the morning. That boy was just _so_ hot ! She had first thought he was some sort of deity — not God, of course, but maybe an angel ? Yes, he hadn't talked to her after class, but Joan thought she knew what it was about. It was a test, a challenge of her faith in God. She had to believe He would put the boy in her way.

When lunch time arrived, she sat alone at a table — her friend Jenny wasn't coming to school that day. All that Joan knew is that her friend, when going back from her trip in South Carolina, had been stopped in the middle of nowhere because of a train wreck. So, Joan did what she always did when she was alone : she took a book and read. _The_ book, to be accurate — the Bible. She found it quite a good read, and in this trial, she needed all the good advice that the Lord's very own words could give her.

However, she stopped before even starting, watching as a group of five students came from the school's park. _He_ was among them. They looked gorgeous, all of them, and had a… mysterious look to them. They didn't talk to anyone as they made their way through the cafeteria, and just sat at a table, not eating anything. And _he_ was looking at her. Gathering her courage, she walked up to their table.

"Hey, I'm Joan, I was in your class this morning. You know, French literature ?"

They all stared at her, and she got time to look them a little closer. They had those Abercrombie and Fitch clothes ; Joan noticed that first, having craved to buy some despite her father's refusal. Two girls, one blonde and very beautiful, the other dark-haired with smiling eyes, both wearing bright colors. Three boys : one looking younger than the others ; he had a slighter figure, more cute than really handsome, with light brown hair ; just looking at him made Joan feel more calm. Another, with short dark hair and enough muscles to be a bodybuilder. Both were dressed in blue and brown tones. Then _him_, with his brown wild hair and amber eyes, his alabaster skin forming a lovely contrast with his dark clothes. He looked _perfect_. Joan told herself, for the hundredth time that day, that she wanted him to be her boyfriend.

"Why are you sitting here ?" _He_ asked, with a tone that reminded her of a growl. But, she thought it was a good growl, like a dog growls sometimes to play, right ?

"Because I wanted to talk to you now, silly. My name is Joan St-Sanctuary Louisa Smith. You're hot and I like you a fuckload."

"Edward Cullen" he answered, sounding upset for some reason. Edward. _That_ was his name. "Come on, let's go" he added, to the intention of the others. And they went out of the cafeteria, leaving her alone.

Why didn't Edward want to know her ? She was gorgeous — her friends had told her that a lot, so it had to be true, right ? Maybe there was something wrong with her ? She didn't understand.

It was time to go to her biology class. She arrived a little early, and, to her surprise, found Edward alone in the room. She decided to try once more and sat next to him, which was, in a way, an "I'm your partner for this school year" declaration. She winked at him after sitting down, and realized that he looked very, very mad at her all of a sudden. Then, the teacher arrived, some Mr Saltzmann, and the lesson started. During the following hour, Edward was actually kind of polite to her, if not overtly nice. _I've__ been __friendly __to __him__ the __whole __time, __maybe__ it's __working__?_ she thought.

Unfortunately, she didn't share her other courses of the day with Edward, meaning she didn't see him. During all that time, she felt like dreaming, and at the end of the day, realized she hadn't paid attention to anything.

Leaving the school, she ended up on the parking lot, where she decided she'd wait for a while, in case Edward might come out, so she could talk to him. But instead, a tall blond girl ran at her, screaming in joy.

"Joan !"

"Hey girl, how are you ?"

That was her friend, Jenny Donna. Her only friend in Forks, since she had arrived only two months ago, during the summer holiday. She had tried to make more friends but apparently, teenagers in Forks were mean and un-Christian. Jenny wasn't, however : she was Joan's mirror image, in her mind and physically, except for her blond hair. She had smoother features, maybe. And she was a little less sexah, as well, of course. But, more importantly, she was Christian.

"I haven't seen you for a week !" Jenny said, enthusiastically. "I'm sooo excited that we are going to the same school now."

"Yeah, hey, about that, I saw this major hottie today in class. Edward Cullen, you know him ? Y'know, you've been here longer than me, so…"

"Oh, yeah, Edward Cullen ! He and the four others he hangs with — they're siblings. Adopted siblings. The blonde girl is Rosalie, the other's Alice. The muscly guy is Emmet, and the cute one is Jasper. They're all really secretive, you can't really know much about them. Even Britney, the school queen, couldn't get a date with Edward. I personally like Emmet a lot" she said, with a dreamy smile on her face.

"Yeah, he's okay, but I like Edward more, and, I think he likes me. He smiled at me, but he's also so broody…"

"Oh, that's normal, they're all a little like that. I think it's an act, so no one bothers them."

"If I wanted to meet him, do you know where they live ?"

"Yeah, they live in the mountains outside town. But, he's also right there and _alone_, look ! Go girl, talk to him !" she pushed Joan a little towards Edward.

Joan breathed in, then walked towards Edward. Though he couldn't see her, he immediately turned around and watched her, scowling. He was _so_ cute when he scowled !

"Hey, Edward, how are you. You look even better now than before."

"No, don't come near me, Joan !" he said, loudly before walking away, through the parking lot. It was almost a yell ! What was _wrong_ with that guy ? Chasing along, Joan tried to catch up, but he jumped on top of a car, then vanished in the bushes on the side of the road and into the forest.

Disappointed, Joan stood there until she hear a noise coming from behind. First she saw nothing — a big fountain hid the parking lot from her. Then, taking a turn, came Forks High's school bus, the "bus to apocalypse" as the students had dubbed it. The driver hadn't seen her and was speeding along the road — right towards her. Joan stood there, petrified, and closed her eyes… then heard tires screeching on the road and a crash. When she realized she wasn't dead yet, she opened her eyes to see she was in the middle of a cloud of dust, the bus stopped a few feet before her, its front heavily damaged. It looked as if something had stopped the bus, but there was nothing around.

Jenny arrived and accompanied Joan to the sidewalk, in safety. The bus driver, shocked, got out of the bus to apocalypse, but Joan nodded to him that she was fine. Still dazed, she realized people were talking to him, but couldn't hear or answer. She looked around, and her eyes caught sight of a glimpse of amber light, somewhere in the forest. She tried to look what it was, but as soon as she blinked, the light had vanished.

Jenny accompanied her home, but once there she asked her friend to leave her now. She didn't want trouble with her father — first day at school and she was already having trouble ? Plus, as the mayor, he was always doing all kinds of things to help — if she remembered correctly, that day he was to help the fire fighters. So, she told herself it was for the best — _Dad __won't__ want __to__ be__ annoyed_. Not feeling hungry, she barely said hello and went to bed immediately.

* * *

><p>Lynne Epieu was tired. Exhausted, even. But her daughter was missing since noon, and she wouldn't stop until finding her. As a detective, she had called for help of friends within the police to investigate and had soon found that her friend, Alaric, was the last to see her. She was planning something in the school park, apparently. After searching the school, they had all gone into the nearby woods.<p>

Suddenly her talkie erupted with incoherent sound. She took it in hand, tried to adjust the frequency — _Damn __that __lousy __old __equipment __we're __given_ — and the quality of the signal, and finally, got the message she feared to hear. A team had found a body, in the woods. Asking where her colleagues were, she soon joined them.

Luckily for Lynne, she was a strong woman. You don't go close to be head of the police, even in a small town like Forks, without hardening a lot. That allowed her to not cry when she saw her. Her only daughter, the only thing left of her late husband Manuel : Britney. Her daughter had her blond hair and beautiful features, but she had her father's deep dark eyes, that now looked into nothingness, forever.

Suddenly, all of Lynne's fatigue was gone, replaced with a cold feeling. She had to do what she did best : catching murderers. She had to avenge her daughter. So, coldly, she examined the body. The mud on her face indicated she had fallen on the ground, pushed from behind : the team actually found the trace of it. A human foot, large, so likely a man. The prints weren't too deep, so he wasn't of the heavy type or he was running very fast. The victim had then been turned to face the sky. Part of the killer's ritual ? Maybe.

But what was really horrible in this sight was her daughter's beautiful, gracile neck, savagely wounded. It was large, cutting through the main artery and veins in the region, and it was irregular, indicating that it wasn't a regular blade. Something made of natural material, maybe — stone, teeth or bone could fit — but the coroner didn't find any shard of it. The wound indicated something, though : it had a little mud inside, indicating that the attacker opened Britney's neck before she fell on the ground. Considering the momentum he had likely built up by running, it means he was very fast — likely not his first time doing it. And, last but not least, her daughter didn't have a single drop of blood in her. There wasn't even splattered blood on the ground or on her clothes.

This act, this… horror was what confirmed Lynne Epieu that her first idea was right. It wasn't the killer's first time, and she had to stop him. Track him down, find him, and make him pay. Dearly.


	3. Chapter 2 — Savoir

The rest of the week had seemingly gone in a flash. Edward hadn't been there for the last three days ! What was happening ? And then there was that police woman, asking everyone about her daughter, that Britney who posed as Christian, but wasn't really one. Apparently she was dead ; Joan almost couldn't refrain from saying it was God's punishment for Britney being so mean to Joan during summer. She might actually have said it, had her mind not been clouded by Edward's disappearance. Had she done something wrong ? She was sure he was the one who stopped the school bus, though. Those amber lights in the distance looked like his eyes. So he must like her, right ? Of course, she hadn't said that to anyone ; only Jenny knew about her suspicions. To the others, she said God had saved her. Which was true, in a sense : Joan was sure Edward was an angel sent by Him.

Every night, Joan thought. What to do now ? What would Jesus have done, if he had fallen in love ? Because Joan _was_ in love. She knew it, deep in her bones. Edward was just so gorgeous. But every night, Joan's thinking came to a dead end, and she only fell asleep out of exhaustion.

However, on Thursday night, she woke up almost as soon as she had fallen asleep, feeling the bed sink beside her. Rolling over, she saw amber eyes watching her. _He_ was there ! He was looking at her, smiling. Too surprised to say anything, Joan gazed at him, lost in admiration. He got closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He was strangely cold, and she shivered, but at the same time, it felt extremely good. She finally gathered the strength to talk.

"What are you doing here ?"

"I came to see you, obviously."

That made Joan so happy she could have died in the minute, for all she cared. Edward had wanted to see her ! She knew he would like her. And she was right. She knew she had finally been rewarded for her faith in God.

"So… we started the wrong way. Tell me more about you. New girl in town ?"

"Yeah, I've been in a private school for five years, after… an incident." She had wanted to open her veins due to her father not loving her enough, being an asshole and a total drunk, but she couldn't tell him _that_. "They helped me a lot, showed me the way, and most importantly, showed me God. I love God a lot, you know ?"

"I had it figured." He giggled a bit. That was a _lovely_ giggle, mind you, not one of those weird giggles _some_ men can do.

They went on, talking for hours, until dawn. Joan was growing more and more certain Edward liked her, wanted her. She leaned against him, approached her lips from his, and… Edward got up, pushing her away, and told her :

"No… I can't do this… We can't be together, Joan."

Not letting the girl time to answer, he jumped through the open window, and vanished in the shadows of early morning. Joan, shocked, tried to see him, but the house spread a very large shadow over the garden, the rising sun being on the opposite side. In the end, she got away from the window, walked to the bathroom, and cried under the shower. Exhausted by the sleepless night and the shock, she got dressed and went to school, leaving early on purpose to avoid her father.

At school, she went straight for Jenny when she saw her and told her immediately about Edward's visit during the night. The blonde girl looked a little freaked out by the boy breaking into her house, but they didn't have much time to share opinions on the matter, having to part ways to get in their respective classes.

Once more, Joan couldn't pay attention to any of her teachers that day, and her Math teacher even sent her to the principal's after catching her asleep on the desk. However, she was soon told that the man was away, in a reunion at the mayor's office, and that she could leave, as long as she didn't fall asleep in class again. Since she had waited there for too long and school was almost over, Joan decided to leave immediately and go home. That's when she saw Edward, in the street, who waved at her to follow him, then went into the woods. Full of hope again, she hurried along. They walked through the woods, to the point Joan couldn't tell where they were anymore, and he kept walking, always right there, almost out of sight but visible enough to let her follow. When, finally, he slowed down, they had reached the border of the forest. She could see the hills, far from town. She caught up with him, and, panting, asked :

"Why didn't we drive to here ?"

"Joan, I have something to tell you." He had a sad look on his face, like he was on the verge of crying. After he stared at her for a while, she decided to press him :

"What is it ? What do you want to tell me ?"

"Joan, I like you a lot, but I have a horrible secret." Ha actually was crying now, even if it was just a few tears. "I'm not like other guys."

"I know that, silly !" Joan replied, half-laughing.

"No, you don't." Suddenly, Joan saw the look on his face and shivered. "Joan, I'm actually a vampire !"

Gasping, Joan backpedaled. _Oh,__ shit_, she thought, _a__ vampire__ ?__ That's__… __really__ unholy __and__… __wait._ Did that mean Edward drank blood ? Thinking hard, Joan came to the conclusion that she had to give him a chance. They'd been alone together the night before and he hadn't harmed her, right ? Still, a thought ran through her mind : _you__ shouldn't__ have__ worn __heels __today.__ What __if__ you __have __to __run __?_ In the end, though, she couldn't help but say :

"A vampire ? But I can't be with you, then : I'm Christian. Aren't vampires hurt by all the is connected to Christianity ?" As the words flew from her mouth, she realized what it meant. Losing Edward. She felt tears on her cheeks though she didn't remember crying.

To her surprise, Edward only scowled. "No, Joan, it's OK. My clan is different. We follow the Lord's ways and teachings. I'm a Christian vampire !"

Joan took a second to assimilate that. "Why is it bad then ?"

"Because… Your smell is unique. And I'm afraid I'd still eat you, even if I don't drink human blood, usually. I can't be with you, I could hurt you, and yet… I want to be with you."

Joan gasped once more. He wanted to eat her, but… there was something about him. He was so hot and nice and… Joan felt he was the only one for her. Finally, she walked up to him, gently took his hand and stared at him, eyes in eyes.

"We will work through it. I love you. There must be a solution."

Edward didn't answer, but Joan could feel his relief at her reaction. She got closer to him and he wrapped her in his arms, his cold arms. They stood like that for a while, then went back to town before it was too late.

* * *

><p>"What is it, Lynne ?" The mayor, Hugo Smith, was an old friend of her, and he had accepted to receive her as soon as she had called. She had always had a soft spot for him : though in his late thirties, he still was quite a looker, with his hazel eyes and fluffy brown hair. But this was not the day to pay attention to that. She had a mission.<p>

"Hugo, I need your help. You know that Cullen family ?"

"Yes… their father is an excellent doctor and their kids are in Forks High with my Joan. Why, what's wrong ?"

"You know about my daughter…"

"Yes, I'm sorry about Britney. Why didn't you invite me to the funeral ? I only learned today that it was yesterday."

"I needed to be alone."

He nodded. He himself had been alone for Joan's mother's funeral, not wanting the young girl to endure it. "And what's the connection with the Cullens ?"

"She's been murdered on the school grounds. In the forest, sure, but inside the school grounds. She was very close the the park when she was attacked. And since that day, not a single Cullen has apparently shown themselves in Forks High. Except for Monday, the day the murder happened, they missed the whole week, Hugo ! The first week at school ! You know how important it's supposed to be, if you want all the information about every course. Why would they miss on that ?"

Hugo gazed at her for a moment. "It is indeed suspicious. Didn't they answer your calls ?"

"No, and I have no tangible proof to force them to come to us if they don't want to. Hence my presence here. If you signed a document, like a warrant…"

"You realize I'm not supposed to be able to do that."

"Really ? You're the mayor, _and_ a lawyer ! Who _else_ but you could do that ?"

"I'd be taking risks."

"Only if I'm wrong. I'm just asking for a short interview with each of the kids."

Hugo frowned. Lynne knew what he couldn't say : the Cullens were a rich family, arrived there only a few years ago, and apparently with connections in high places. Attacking them without proof was complex. But she _was_ right. Their not showing up was at least a good reason to believe they hid something. And Lynne wanted her revenge.

"I have another idea, Hugo. Just give me the paper. If I'm wrong and they attack me, I'll say it was a fake, that I imitated your signature. If they're hiding something else, you can make them fall, get the publicity from it. If I'm right… you still get the honor, and I have my vengeance on top of it. That way, you're not taking risks ; I am."

She had found a good argument. Hugo didn't trust the Cullens since they had arrived — no one that rich goes into a small town like Forks if they don't have a dark secret to hide —, and Lynne knew it. Hugo had already asked her to investigate back when the family had first arrived. She hadn't found anything then, but there wasn't any murder either at the time. Now there was one, and she had the cover of the investigation to dig more deeply in the Cullens' past.

"Fine, Lynne. But remember… Be careful. This authorization has no real value, you know. And if one of them _is_ the murderer, they might get to you once they realize you are watching them."

"If that's the case, I count on you to carry on. Justice _must_ be done, Hugo."

He nodded, printed the paper, signed it, and she left the office, without another word.

Lynne had had trouble finding the Cullens' house. Even with her GPS and knowledge of the woods, the house was still in a place she didn't even know existed. The house itself was a massive stone building, built like a small gothic cathedral. Or rather, built to look like one : there were odd bits here and there, Lynne could tell. She _loved_ old architecture, and this building was an insult to every existing monument, there in Europe. It _was_, however, a very good way for the family to illustrate their wealth, with lots of statues of various kinds — imitations of more or less famous works, for the most part —, white gold and silver platings — or was it platinum ? Well, the house was probably worth a small fortune on its own. Forcing herself to stop gazing at it, she reached the door. No electric doorbell, just a massive knocker, very classic. As weird as it looked, she decided to use it.

She had to wait of a good fifteen minutes before a blond-haired man opened the door, dressed in an immaculate suit. He looked much younger than he was. Said he was. Whatever, his secret didn't interest Lynne right now. For all she knew, he may just have a very good plastic surgeon.

"Excuse me," Lynne asked, "mister Cullen ?"

"Indeed, I'm Carlisle Cullen." A formality ; she knew him from sight since her investigation about them.

"Detective Lynne Epieu."

"Yes, of course. I heard about your daughter, last Monday. A horrible… situation." His voice sounded way too calm for someone talking about a murder. Not even cold, like some people are. Just… uninterested.

"I'm here to talk to your children. They were at school that day, but no one saw them since then, and they didn't come when we called them."

"Really ? That's interesting." He sounded more like he didn't care the slightest. "And may I know why they should tell you anything ? You don't suspect them, do you ?"

"No, it's just…" _Careful_, she thought, _make__ him__ lower __his __guard_. She put on a smile ; her perfect smile that had made her prom queen a long time ago. "We have talked to every student in Forks High, and my superiors want me to be as thorough as I can. Trust me, sir, if it was only about me, we wouldn't be looking in a school and try to actually _find_ the killer."

"Ah. I see. But you'll understand if I want to protect my children from such atrocities. And from what a zealous attorney might do if he doesn't find the real murderer."

"I understand, sir, but I have orders, and…" She rummaged through her purse, purely for the show : she knew exactly where everything was. "… an authorization from the Mayor. He gives me the right to do anything that's needed to talk to your children, them being our only witnesses left and therefore, our only leads on this case."

"That's illegal. You can't…"

"You realize the mayor graduated in law school ? That he's known as a ferocious lawyer, and sometimes, yes, works with the attorney ? Maybe you'll want to ask _him_ to justify how this is legal, sir, but I don't have time for this." She kept a neutral expression on her face, but _boiled_ on the inside. She had hoped she wouldn't be forced to used this.

"I… no, that won't be necessary. Please come inside." He let her walk through the door, then closed it behind her. "I'll get the kids. I'm afraid, though, that Edward's not home yet."

"Where is he ?"

"I don't know, detective. He went out to meet some girl, I think. You know, boys at their age, they're more secretive to their parents than to anyone !"

_Now, __you're __being __nice __to __me_. Each step forward confirmed her intuition : the Cullens had a connection to her daughter's murder. And she would find what kind.


	4. Chapter 3 — Family Ties

"Heard you needed me, Mrs Boss ?"

James (yes, _just_ James — he came from a time where surnames were only for the noblemen) had entered the office hoping to make a dramatic entrance, but that was underestimating Agent Parere's security system. From the moment he had been summoned by the leader of the Unit, James had likely been watched at every single moment.

Agent Parere was quite a small woman, with a beautiful face, shiny green eyes and unnaturally silvery hair. Really, _silvery_ : they even had a metallic shine to them. But of course, it didn't shock James that much, since it was symptomatic of what she was. Even in her Italian Renaissance dress and high heels, as she always wore when she was in her office, James knew she could still have him on the ground, powerless, before he could even have a chance to realize it. She had actually done that already. Twice. And that was no small feat.

For James was a vampire, a man blessed — or cursed — with eternal youth, incredible strength, among a lot of other, various abilities. All in exchange for the need to drink human blood.

But rehashing the past wasn't the reason James came here. Once caught by the Special Cases SHS Unit, a team who fought any supernatural activity that might threaten humans, James was only still alive because of a deal with them. Bound by a spell, James had to accept any mission the Unit gave him, and was not allowed to attack humans, feeding only on the blood the Unit offered. Of course, they didn't use him _that_ much, since he was still a vampire, a creature you cannot trust, but he had done quite a bit of work for them in the past twelve years. So he knew what was the most important : make sure the mission didn't involve any kind of trap. Because, if he had to ultimately accept the missions and fulfill them, he could still negotiate the exact terms of it.

So here James stood, in the office of Agent Parere, listening very carefully to each of the woman's words.

"We have had reports of a girl killed in Forks, Washington. Vampire bite. We sent a collector there…" By _collector_, she meant a spy, a man who gathered intelligence. "… and he sent us pictures of the presumed coven. We identified them. You know them, I believe ? The Cullen family."

The question was purely for the show. The Cullen coven had set up James and his own coven, twelve years ago. Most of them had died, including James' own mate, and James himself had been taken by the Unit. The team was quite new then, founded only a few years before by Agent Parere herself.

"Your mission would be to go there, and kill them, if you can. Simple, no weird phrasing. I'll actually go with you to try and find an appropriate course of actions that I'll dictate you."

"_No__ weird __phrasing_ ? You're basically demanding me to do every one of your biddings when we're here."

The woman smiled. "No. The mission contract is clear ; read it if you don't believe me. I'll make the plans, but you have the freedom of deciding whether or not it's a good idea. You will also be able to take initiative, as long as you respect our… previous agreements."

This seemed satisfying. Hell, he hadn't had so much freedom in the past twelve years ! So, of course, there was a trap. "Why me ? I'm guessing you don't care about my feud with Edward Cullen, so why use me ? The unpredictable, untrustworthy vampire ?"

The woman's smile broadened, revealing pointy teeth. She started counting the reasons on her fingers. "You're strong. Stronger than any of them separately. You're disposable." Yes, she wasn't going to lie about _that_. "If they catch you, our agreement will stop you from divulging our involvement, so they will think it's only a revenge. And…" She paused.

"And… ?"

"Let's say the situation in the whole country is problematic. And let's not talk of the Old Continent. A good deal of our agents are either in Italy, hunting for that Vampire Mafia, or in South Carolina. We still have available agents, but no one I can afford losing against a single coven."

_South__ Carolina __? __What__ was__ it __in __South __Carolina __?_ James hadn't heard of that. "But you go with me. Why ?"

"That is one question too many, James. Do you agree on the terms of this assignment ?"

The fateful words. James took the time to think. Even if he refused, she would just find a way to get him to accept — perhaps with more agents watching him. And he actually wanted his revenge, no matter if Agent Parere was trying to use it for her own interests. Then he realized one thing : she had perfectly manipulated him. As soon as he had heard of the Cullens, he had _wanted_ to go there. So there was only one thing to say, and to hell with being smart and cautious.

"Yes, I agree."

* * *

><p>Joan had spent the weekend in waiting. The Cullens had apparently left town on a short trip, as they did from time to time according to Jenny, and she was anxious about what Edward had told her. Maybe he would decide that they could not be together ? No, he liked her, and she loved him ; he couldn't do that. And so on ; her mind felt like it was spinning constantly. She even dreamed of him ; in her dreams, he stood, bare-chested, in the middle of a meadow, but she could never reach him. When Monday finally came, she went to school and was rejoiced to see him in class. She raced to him.<p>

"Are we going out ?" she asked, nervously playing with her hair. She had dyed it red during the weekend, to try and pass time as much as to try to look less like her father.

"I guess so… but, you realize the bloodlust is a problem ?" Joan nodded. He seemed relieved, once more, by her reaction. "There is something that I want to show you. Meet me after school, okay ?"

Joan was surprised, and felt very excited. "Yes, of course !" She tried to ask him what it was, but the teacher came in, forcing her to go sit down.

All day, Joan wondered what it could be, and was slightly nervous that it may be something evil. Edward _was_ a vampire after all, even if he said he was Christian. She was still apprehensive when she joined him after school, as he led him to his car, a dark blue sports car with silver rims. He even opened the door for her, gallantly, before driving her through the woods to reach…

"My home" he said, and she saw it. Edward's home looked like an old, massive church, made of dark stones with silvery metals forming beautiful motifs and magnificent statues. Joan followed Edward inside, to meet his parents, Carlisle and Esme, who, when called "Mrs Cullen", asked Joan to simply use the shorter "MC", like everyone. Joan found them very nice, but they bored her — like most adults, really. Carlisle seemed unable to express any feeling, and MC… Joan thought she was retarded. Nice, but retarded. The woman had spent all the time trying to offer something to eat, never paying attention to the conversation. Joan quickly made Edward know —discreetly, of course— that she wanted to spend some time with him, _alone_, and they went upstairs, to his room. It was a large room, with a huge window taking up one of the walls. There was also an old, large, carved wooden bed.

"I thought vampires didn't sleep ?"

"We don't, but it looks nice." Edward smiled. The sun had finally broken through the clouds, and he added "I wanna show you what happens when I step into the sun." And he did, walking forward as he took off his shirt. When he approached the window, the sunlight hit him and made him sparkle, as if his skin was made of millions of diamonds.

"You're so gorgeous, Edward" was all Joan could utter, amazed by it ; but Edward probably thought it was good enough, because he stepped away from the window and sat on the bed. Joan went to sit beside him, and soon she was in his embrace, cuddling and kissing while lying on the bed. Joan let out a very slight moan of surprise when her tongue brushed his fangs. Edward removed Joan's top and they laid there for a while more, but then he moved his hands and started to undo her belt.

"No ! Stop it ! _NO_ !" Joan yelled. Edward rolled away from her, confused and looking frustrated. "I can't do this yet." Joan said, frowning as she told what she _had_ to say. "I'm Christian, we can't have sex until we get married."

Edward went closer to Joan, whispering, "It's okay, I won't hurt you." Joan almost gave in to his embrace, but she snapped out of it, pushing him away and putting her clothes back on. Edward did the same, but he looked really sad.

"I'm sorry, Edward, but if we do that now, God will go mad. Remember the Bible — _Do__ not __waste __your__ seed_." She wasn't really sure it was the appropriate verse, but Edward didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah, I understand."

Joan hugged him, torn between her love for God and his teachings, and her desire to love him. She decided to stick by her beliefs — _that_ is the most important thing in life, isn't it ?

* * *

><p>Joan hadn't come home yet when Hugo arrived himself. Strange ; he was quite late, and it was already night out there. He tried to call her but she didn't answer. Well, that wasn't the most surprising — she ignored his calls willingly and often since long before her suicide attempt. Still, with a murderer in Forks, Hugo couldn't really get out of his mind the idea that something might have gone wrong. He decided to call a few people and have them look for his daughter, but before he had time, his cellphone rang. Sighing, he picked it up.<p>

"Yeah ?"

"Hugo, it's Lynne. I should tell you what I found out."

"Lynne… You mind if I call you back ? I don't know where Joan is, and…"

"Joan ? I saw her only twenty minutes ago, she's fine. I offered to drive her home, but she declined."

"What ? Where is she ?"

"You mind if I start at the beginning ?"

Intrigued, Hugo could only let her explain — Lynne did things her way or not at all. "Okay, go ahead."

"I went to see the Cullens right after leaving you."

"I could guess that, but it was three days ago. How does it matter ?"

"Hugo, I said : let me get the story straight. So, I went to the Cullens to talk to them. With the authorization you gave me, Carlisle didn't dare do anything to stop me, fortunately. But, I only spoke to _four_ of the children that day. One of them, Edward, wasn't there."

"Edward… Which one ?"

"Brown hair, the palest skin and always looks like he wants to rip off everyone's head."

"Oh, I see now." Not really ; he hadn't paid attention to the Cullen kids before, focused on the father as he was.

"So, I talked with the other four, and they all told me they had indeed gone in the park at noon. I already knew about that : several students, including your daughter, had seen them coming from the park in the cafeteria. According to them, they had decided to meet in the park after their classes instead of the chaos of the cafeteria. But, Hugo… That doesn't fit. Why meet in the park ? They know they're not supposed to go there during lunch time, and it's not really a middle point to meet."

"I guess you're right, but that's not really an evidence."

"I know, Hugo, but it's not over. See, since Edward wasn't there, Carlisle promised me to call when he'd be available for me to talk with. Since I couldn't really force him or anything, I decided to leave and try to compare all the testimonies."

"Okay, and… ?"

"Well, there are a few differences in what everyone said. They couldn't decide at what time each had arrived in the park, or where they came from. That may be relevant, but it happens all the time ; maybe they just didn't remember. So, I tried to re-write a version that fit with what all four of them had said. I had that report printed, and brought it along when Carlisle called me to see Edward today, to compare. And, Hugo, it sounds weird, but he told me exactly what was written on my paper. Not the same wording, but the exact same events. What's the chance of this happening ?"

"Maybe you got it right ?"

"Hugo, they waited three days to let me talk to Edward. Isn't it obvious they made up a fitting story ?"

Hugo couldn't help but nod in agreement, but he didn't dare tell that to Lynne.

"You're assuming, Lynne. Don't go too fast on deciding the Cullens did it, or you may miss the real murderer. And what's the connection with Joan anyway ?"

"Oh, yeah. When I was at the Cullens' today, she was there. Apparently, Edward invited her."

Hugo didn't answer for a moment, too surprised. A Cullen inviting someone in their mysterious life ? That sounded as implausible as… Well, as a Cullen murdering a young woman.

"Hugo ? You think it's a good idea to let them hang out together ?"

Lynne's voice brought Hugo back to reality.

"I didn't even know they were friends ! Lynne… If you have anything on them, tell me immediately. Whatever it is. If Edward Cullen is the one you think he is… I won't let him get my daughter."

"Of course, Hugo. You're not the only one who wants to stop the murderer."

"And Lynne…" Hugo was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. Looking over there, he saw Joan, who had finally come back.

"What ?"

"Nothing. I'll tell you later." And he hung up. He didn't want Joan to hear what he was about to say.

"Hi dad, I'm home !" Joan had arrived in the living room, and looked at him, standing in the middle of the room, phone still in hand. "How was your day ?" She had her mother's emerald eyes, her beautiful eyes that looked blue when in dim light, like now. Every time Hugo saw those eyes, he remembered Louisa, and the circumstances of Joan's birth. He would not let those eyes close forever because of some monster.

"Fine, sweetie. I was about to make dinner. Have you eaten yet ?"

"No."

"Good. You mind setting the table ?" Of course she did ; she didn't even answer and went straight to her room, mumbling something about needing to get changed. Sighing, Hugo got everything ready, then still had to wait a good twenty minutes before Joan came downstairs, walking down the stairs as majestically as if she was an actress in Cannes. When they finally started to eat, Hugo asked her daughter about her day.

"Oh, it was nice."

Hugo wondered how he and Louisa, both good orators, had birthed a such a taciturn child. But maybe she was only like that with her father ; he himself may have been quite rude to his parents at her age. Anyway, Hugo still had a situation to clarify.

"And how come you came home so late ?"

"Oh, I was at my boyfriend's."

Hugo was taken aback by this reveal. "You have a boyfriend ?"

"Yes, his name is Edward Cullen."

Hugo couldn't hide the worry in his face. Joan probably didn't take it well, because she glared at him, then got on her feet and went straight to her bedroom, locking the door. As if she needed it ; Hugo wasn't going to invade her private space and was well aware of when she didn't want him to enter — since she'd come back, she had _never_ wanted him to enter.

The next, day, at breakfast, Hugo forced himself to look free of all worries, and decided to try to talk to her again.

"So, tell me more about that Edward Cullen."

Joan stared at her, looking surprised, as if it was the first time he cared about her. Hugo wasn't really bothered by that — too used to it —, and just waited, with a friendly look on his face. He _hoped_ it was a friendly look.

"Well, he's about my age, he's in a few of my classes, and he's really über hot. We met a while ago, and now we're going out !"

Hugo said the only thing that crossed his mind. "That's great, Joan. I'm very happy for you !"

Joan was apparently fazed by this, but managed to reply a "Thanks, dad !" before hugging him and hurrying to school.

As soon as she was out of sight, Hugo took his phone.

"Yeah ?"

"Lynne, it's me. If you're right about that Cullen boy, I want you to get him. Do what needs to be done, and I'll arrange that you don't have trouble."

"What is it ?"

"It's Joan… She's dating him ! She's dating _the__ man__ we __suspect __of __murdering __your __daughter_, Lynne !"

Hugo heard Lynne's gasp, but she quickly regained composure. "Hugo, don't tell her. You don't know how he might react, and that may put her in danger if she decides to break up with him. Plus, it changes nothing. I have a plan."

She was right. Of course she was. But Hugo didn't like it in any way.

* * *

><p>When Joan arrived at school, she saw Edward from a distance, and walked up to him.<p>

"Come on, I want to introduce you to my family." Joan followed him, and he brought her to the park, which was empty in this early hour of the morning, save for the four Cullen siblings.

"Hey everyone, I'm Joan !" she said gleefully, approaching them. "And I'm currently dating you spunky brother here !" She hugged Edward tightly while saying that. At first a little embarrassed, he blushed and hugged her back.

"Yes, we heard that." Rosalie answered.

"Did he tell you about…" Alice started.

"About being vampires ? Yes ! And apparently I smell hot !" Joan roared, enthusiastically.

Rosalie looked around, in case someone had been there to hear ; but there was still no one around.

"It's actually true, though." Emmet replied, with a serious look on his face. "You should be careful when you're around us for a while until we adapt to your scent, okay ?"

Joan nodded, but Emmet suddenly brought something to her mind. "Oh ! Emmet ! I forgot ! You know my friend Jenny ? She likes you a lot ! You mind if I tell her about this Christian vampire thing and you try to date her ?" Blushing, the tall, muscled man nodded. Joan texted Jenny to join them — the girl was there in less than a minute, as if she'd been waiting for this — and they all talked for a long while, deciding on the fly to skip classes. But who cared about classes ? Joan had found _love_ in Edward.

At lunchtime, they went to the cafeteria, and sat, all together at a table close to the window. They went on talking — at that point, Joan was sharing dressing tips with the other girls — when suddenly, all five vampires froze. Edward pushed Joan to the ground as the windows were smashed to pieces.


	5. Chapter 4 — Grudges

So much for the surprise attack.

James had wanted to take Edward down at once, but the other vampire had nimbly dodged out of the way before James reached him. _Yeah,__I __forgot. __Edward __is __the __fast __one. __Stupid__ me_. His momentum carried James right on top of the girl Edward was protecting, who produced a shrieking scream. The adrenaline of the fight making him lose all kind of control over his basic urges, James bit into her arm, but a vivid pain reminded him of the Unit's curse on him and stopped him from doing more harm. _It's__ all __right_, he thought, _as __long __as __I__ don't __drink __the __blood, __I __should __be __fine_. Easier said than done ; the warm blood's taste was exquisite, bringing back memories of the fine wines he had enjoyed as a human. In the end, the curse did nothing to stop him : the girl's knee hitting him between his legs did. That only stunned him slightly, but that was enough for the Cullen girls to drag her out of the way.

Quickly getting back on his feet, James looked around. Humans were running everywhere, panicked. James also noticed, alone, one of the of the brothers : the blonde Jasper. The boy had tactical knowledge regarding how to fight vampires, but James knew he didn't have any actual experience. James rushed to him, but he had barely enough time to hit him once that Edward was already there knocking him away, breaking more than a few tables in the process.

Before James had the time to rise, the last brother, Emmet, kicked him back to the ground. Edward joined his brother, both hitting him hard. But hitting a vampire hard is not the most effective way to actually incapacitate him, and James had already learned to ignore pain two thousand years ago. _Why__ not __kill __me__?_ James had to find that out. Later. First, get out of this mess. Since the brothers were wasting time hitting him, he decided to get one of them out of the way. Placing his hands on the ground, James pushed himself up, feet right in Edward's direction. The move worked just as expected, sending the pretty boy flying high and far. Taking advantage of the surprise, James threw a table at Emmet, knocking him off long enough to let James attack the human girls. It was only a facade, but it worked : as soon as he threw another table in her direction — blocked by Jasper, this time — the girls took the human out of the room, and Jasper covered their retreat, before going along. _And __three __vampires __less __to__ deal __with_.

Turning to face the remaining two brothers, James was surprised to find them both ready to fight, once more. _A__ little __faster __than __I __hoped __for, __but __oh__ well_. Pressed hard on, James was forced to block more often than attack, but it was, more or less, part of his intention. What was _not_ intended was when Edward found an opening, jumped above him, and got him in the back. Tearing a table leg, he stuck it through James' chest. It wasn't wood, so not lethal, but it was very much enough to stop James from… well, from moving at all. He fell on the ground almost instantly, gasping as the pain radiated from his chest.

"Em, take care of him. I'll go see if Joan's okay" Edward said. Maybe all was not lost, then. James afforded a smile as he slumbered into darkness.

When he woke up, Emmet was carrying him into the woods. Well, at least now he had _one_ of the Cullens, alone. All did not go so wrong, it seems. "Emmet… Strong, loyal Emmet. What will you get in exchange of doing this, exactly ?"

"Shut up."

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen. You know me." James had a faint laugh. That thing in his chest _hurt_. "So… Just like old times. You do the dirty work, while Edward finds a soul mate."

"I have found a girl, too."

"Oh, good for you. And when do you think they'll eat her ? Before or after deciding you're not worth keeping around any longer ?"

"You realize they have found me worth keeping for quite a while."

"Yes… But think of it for a second. When our two clans met, I was just like you. I had found a mate, recently turned her. She had still people she cared for, but when I asked your family to not hurt them… Well, you know how it ended. Your girl, she has a family, doesn't she ? Well, soon you'll be in my situation, then."

"They wouldn't do that to me. I'm part of the coven."

James heard a slight sound in the bushes, but Emmet apparently did not. Emmet was all about muscles, after all. James decided to try something risky. The other _was_ probably going to kill him, anyway.

"Part of the coven ? You're as part of the coven… well, just as you were part of the Volturi before." Emmet had been one of their mooks, once. "Tell me : has _this_ family honored you any more than the previous one ?"

_Honor_ referred to the very intricate hierarchy among vampires : one's rank among the coven determined in what order you got to drink a new victim's blood, or, for the empaths, what part of the soul you got to feed upon. But it was deeper than that : that rank was a _physical_ concept, increasing one's strength, and every vampire could feel other vampires' rank, as part of what they called the aura.

Being part of the Cullen coven, the strongest coven on the West Coast — despite being so small — Emmet should have had a lot more honor than James himself, a vampire without any clan and who hadn't had warm blood in twelve years. And yet, they were roughly equals. Emmet knew it, and knew that James knew as well. James might have found a breach.

"You really think they deserve your help ?"

He didn't even realize Emmet had moved when he threw him into the ground. _Ow_. With that improvised stake through the heart and lung, ignoring pain was much, much less easy.

"I said shut up !" Emmet said as he pushed the stake to pin James to the ground.

"Yeah, but you know I'm right. If you helped me kill them… Well, you know what happens when you kill one of the blue blood." Another vampire slang, referring —obviously — to the vampires of high honor. "That's quite a boost in rank."

Emmet looked troubled. But before he could answer, James heard more noise in the bushes behind him, a shadow flashed above his head, and Emmet was on the ground, immobilized by bloodbinders and silver hair hiding his face from James.

"I had lost hope you'd come, Mrs Boss."

Agent Parere looked up at James. "I wasn't sure I would."

James tried to laugh, but it turned into a cough. "What changed your mind ?"

"You got that one." She looked at Emmet again. He looked terrified now.

"Who are you ?" He asked.

The woman smiled. "Someone who could help you get what you want."

"A rogue vampire and a human won't help me get recognition from my peers."

"No, but the leader of the Unit could."

Emmet looked at her, obviously surprised, and James as well. Instead of her usual dress, she was wearing a black uniform, made from a thin fabric and designed to facilitate her moves in combat. Her eyes were like emeralds in the middle of her face.

"You ? You look like a girl barely out of her teens."

"Yeah. You never heard of the hybrids ? I'm sure the Cullens know about that."

"No."

"How sad. Is there _anything_ your family trusts you with ? You vampires, were created when a curse was cast on the first of your kind. You can turn people by sharing blood with a human, then killing him. But other… bodily fluids work as well. And when you nearly kill someone, there's enough saliva to bring a bit of the curse in your victim. Making what we call a hybrid. The same works with your empath cousins, though it's on a spiritual plane. Most people get five to ten per cent of vampire DNA. I got close to thirty. I was lucky to even survive."

James interrupted her. "With all the respect, Mrs Boss, do you really have to tell him all about your life and leave me rot down here ?"

Agent Parere looked at him. "You can wait some more. It's not going to kill you."

James let out a smirk. Yes, _of__ course_ she would let him suffer a bit more. The woman reported her attention on Emmet.

"You have the desire to eliminate the Cullens, deep within. It was there, and James awakened it. Don't lie to me, I'm very good at catching a lie." That was true, since she was part empath. "I want to help you do that. I won't even curse you as I did our fellow James here. No tricks, no backstabbing. We work together towards a common goal."

Emmet seemed interested ; James could see it from where he was. But he was also suspicious. "Or… ?"

"Or I burn you right here, right now, and we'll get your coven anyway. It will just work differently." Agent Parere picked a miniaturized torch out of her pocket, one of her pretty tools of vampire annihilation. "Wanna taste this ?"

James felt he had to intervene. "This is insane. Why would we leave him alive and unbound ? He will betray us as soon as we'll be in a position of weakness."

"I have no intention of being in such a position" the agent said, smiling. "But my fellow is right. I have omitted one part. If you accept to join us, you'll have to become a member of the Unit — with the oath that goes with it. That oath is a simple blood pact restraining you from betraying us. Nothing too hard to live with, don't you agree, Emmet ?"

James couldn't hide the frustration from his face — well, no one was looking at him anyway. Still, he'd never been offered something like that. Why would Parere do that for Emmet Cullen ?

"Okay. I'll help you."

The woman smiled. "Good. If you don't mind, we'll stay here until the night, so we can make the pact at once." She got on her feet, and James noticed she hadn't unlocked the bloodbinders : the little devices, looking like half-bracelets, held the vampire to the ground by his arms and restrained his every muscle from moving through painless electric impulses.

"Now Mrs Boss, you mind taking care of me ?"

Parere approached him, and pulled the stake out of his chest. The pain vanished gradually, but the hole in his chest remained. "Well," she said, "we'll need to take care of _that_." She pulled a vial out of her pockets — _how__ many __things__ does __she __have __in __there __anyway__?_ — and applied it on the wound. James knew what it was — an alchemical compound designed to make vampires heal. It worked on the hybrids as well, though less efficiently. James felt a tingling sensation and he saw his chest was gradually reforming. But the agent remained where she was, and whispered :

"Why did you do this ? When I said you could take the initiative, I thought you wouldn't _try_ to get killed !"

He whispered back. "I thought I could get them by surprise. I forgot about Alice's visions. I guess she glimpsed me and transmitted it to the mindreader. From that… You can guess the rest."

"So it was all about trying to get Edward Cullen, then ?" Parere stared at him, skeptical. "You're more foolish than I could have thought possible, James."

"Yeah, well, sorry about that. Hey, I _did_ get one of them on our side, didn't I ? Oh, that reminds me. We've got something to ask him."

She gazed at him a little longer, then got up, and helped him on his feet. The wound was almost closed already. "Hey, _Em_," he said, smirking at the diminutive, "could you help me understand something ? Why did the pretty Edward Cullen not want to kill me immediately, there in the cafeteria ? You had me at your mercy more than once."

It was Emmet's time to smile now. "You didn't guess ? He doesn't want to scare his soul mate. She's _Christian_" — he spit the word with the same revulsion all vampires had — "or so she says, and we have to pretend we are as well, now. For a while at least."

"Christian ? Interesting. So he _shall__ not __kill_, I presume ? Not before her at least…"

* * *

><p>After Alice, Rosalie and Jasper had taken Joan and Jenny out of the cafeteria, they had waited for a short while. Alice had checked Joan's wound, but the fangs hadn't gone deeply enough in her arm to pose any kind of threat. Then, Edward had come out himself to reassure them.<p>

"It's okay now, we got him. Emmet will take care of the body. Why don't you come to my place now ?" She had agreed ; of course she'd love to go to his home again. Edward's parents had gone to hunt for animals, he had explained to her they fed on those instead of humans, and Alice, Rosalie and Jasper decided to go hunting as well, and warn their parents about the attack.

When they were alone, Joan let go of the pressure and allowed herself to cry. Edward hugged her tightly. "Who was that, Edward ?" she asked.

"His name is James. He's an evil vampire from another clan ; he still drinks human blood. He hates us because, a long time ago, we punished him for turning a poor girl into a vampire and forcing her to follow his evil ways. But we took care of him now. He'll never bother you again."

"Took care of him ? What do you mean ? You know you must not kill."

"It's okay, Joan. He's a satanist, he deserves it. Emmet has probably burned him by now."

A follower of Satan ? Then, maybe it was good to burn him. Hadn't they done that a lot in the past, kill sinners ? Plus, surely Edward knew what he was talking about. Edward took Joan by the hand and went to sit in front of the piano, then he started to play. Joan didn't recognize what he was playing, but it reminded her of the music you sometimes hear in the cathedrals ; very organic-like. Edward was a good pianist, and the music was so beautiful Joan even teared up a bit.

Edward looked at her, then suddenly looked _behind_ her, with an alarmed expression on his face. Joan heard the sound of breaking glass, and turned to see James, right there and well alive. Screaming, Joan ran behind the piano, hiding behind Edward. He jumped at James and pushed him through the window, then jumped through it himself to chase after him.

Joan waited there for a long moment, half sobbing, before Edward came back.

"He won't come back now."

"Did you… kill him ?"

"No." She let out a relieved sigh. "But he won't bother you anymore. Hopefully he learned his lesson : I'm more powerful than him now. You're safe."

Edward brought her to the bedroom, and she fell asleep as soon as she hit the mattress. When she awoke, later, she realized she was in his room, with Edward. It was the middle of the night.

"Did you bring me here ?"

"Yes. I made it so your father would believe you didn't wait for his return and went straight to sleep ; he wasn't home yet when I got here, fortunately. I hope it's okay."

"It's perfect." And she close her eyes again.


	6. Chapter 5 — Breaks

When Joan woke up, the next morning, she was alone, but Edward's sweet scent still lingered in the air. When she left home, she decided to skip up classes and go straight to the Cullens to see what had happened after James' attack. She called a cab, which took her there without asking any questions — fortunately.

MC opened the door for Joan and said a cheery "Hello !", smiling at her. But when Joan entered the lounge room where everyone was, she was shocked to find Emmet bound and gagged in the middle of the room, sporting many bruises on his face, and his clothes ripped by what seemed, in part, the other vampires' fangs.

"What the _fuck_ is going on ?" Joan erupted.

"He didn't burn James like he was supposed to !" Edward answered. "He _betrayed_ us ! He let him live — an evil vampire who had attacked you !"

Could it be ? Joan looked around : everyone looked sad, Carlisle a bit disappointed, but Edward looked furious. And sexah, despite the rage, Joan had to admit it. "Edward, are you sure ?"

"No !" Emmet let out, weakly. "He escaped, I told them, Joan, help me !"

Edward had a smirk. "Escaped ? With a table leg through the chest ? Do you take me for an idiot, Em ?"

"He had help. Another vampire… His mate, I think !"

"Then why didn't they kill you ? Why did that invisible mate not help him when he attacked me, _in __our __very __home_ ?"

"I don't know ! How could I know ?" Emmet looked more terrified at each word his brother let out.

"We trusted you with Joan's life and you betrayed us ! There is only one possible outcome !"

Joan intervened. "What ? What will you do ?"

"We have to kill him."

"NO !" Joan yelled. "Give him a second chance ! Even Judas was forgiven, you know it !" If the Cullens were Christians, couldn't they understand it ?

"Cookies ?" MC had entered the room with a plate of cookies just out of the oven, a gentle smile of her face. "Oh, what is it ?" she asked when Joan glared at her. The woman didn't seem affected by the upcoming death on one of her children. What was wrong with her ? "Emmet's been a bad boy, he should be punished, don't you think ?"

"Maybe, but not _that_. Please ! Anyone ?"

Edward got close to her. "Joan, we can't let him live. The Lord's command is _thou__ shalt __not __kill_, and he helped someone try to kill. To kill _you_ ; I'm sure that's what James was after. He has to die, for that, and for betraying us."

"No !" Joan couldn't fight her tears. She ran to Emmet, hugged him, told him Jenny loved him. But MC soon came and gently took her by the shoulder, making her move back. They killed Emmet with a single hit to the head ; she heard the _crack_ of his spine snapping.

"Cookie ?" MC was looking at her, her plate raised in front of Joan. She hit it, making all the cookies fly up in the air, and ran into the forest. For the first time since she had met him, Joan felt angry at Edward.

* * *

><p>Hugo was getting worried. And he could, considering those weird events at Forks High the day before. No one knew for sure what had happened, but many students said the Cullens had a role in it. Some said they were the mysterious man's targets, others said they fought him with unnatural abilities and killed him ; they said they had helped people go out safely, and also that they had harmed innocent people in their fight with the guy. Everyone's testimony disagreed on everything, except that the Cullens were central.<p>

The Cullens, and the girls who were with them : Joan and Jenny. Which Hugo, of course, didn't quite appreciate. Worse, this was confirming Lynne's suspicions, and his own, that the family had something odd about them, all the while giving them nothing to actually _act_ against them. They had spent the whole afternoon together, brainstorming to make sure of that. Even the unknown man's identity was a mystery, and his features — a tall man, Caucasian, long blond hair, dark eyes, stern face — weren't helpful. Too general on one hand, and on the other they didn't know where to look for. They couldn't just try to find every blond-haired man in the United States ! Was he even American ? No one had heard him speak, so the accent couldn't help them on that either.

Out of worry, he had almost decided to start searching for Joan when she came home. He was about to ask her where she had been, _again_, but she ran upstairs without as much as a look to him. He followed her and opened the door to her room.

"Joan ?" Hugo asked, in a low, deep voice ; the one he had used when she was young, to chase her nightmares. "What's happened ?"

"I hate Edward," his daughter said, weeping in her bed, "I never want to see him again !"

"You wanna talk about it ?" He raised an arm, willing to stroke her hair, but she turned her back. An eloquent gesture. "Okay. If you change your mind, I'm out here." And he walked out of the room.

What had happened, Hugo could only guess. Maybe the boy had tried to put her in his bed : considering how close Joan held to her beliefs, it might be an explanation. Not that Hugo would mind that : if his daughter did indeed not want to see Edward, fine. But he would have to make sure it wouldn't end the way it did for the little Britney Epieu.

He was disrupted in his thoughts by a car outside : his old friend Fernando, that he used to hire as a gardener before he had an accident that put him in a wheelchair. He had come to pick up his son, Jacob, who had replaced him. Hugo rushed to help the old man inside.

"Something's troubling you, Hugo ?" Fernando asked when they settled.

"It's Joan. Something went wrong with her boyfriend, but she won't say what."

"Want me to talk to her ?" Fernando knew Joan well ; he had taken care of her a lot when she was younger, as Hugo was working hard. Harder than now, if it was possible. Work was the way to move on, they had said. _They_ had been wrong. Hugo shook his head in an attempt to banish those memories, once more, and was only mildly successful.

"Sure, you can go." He helped Fernando upstairs. It wasn't necessary anymore : Hugo had installed all the commodities for people in wheelchair like Fernando and other, more official, visitors, but his old friend loved to be helped that way. Fernando then went into Joan's room by himself, closing the door behind him. As much as he knew he shouldn't, Hugo couldn't help but stay there and listen.

"What's wrong ?" He asked.

"Boyfriend." Hugo could hear the shrug in her voice ; Louisa talked just like that too when she wanted to be left alone.

"Oho." Fernando"s laugh was characteristic. "No good ?"

"No."

"If you need to talk to me, you can."

"I know. But I don't."

Hugo waited in silence, and after a short while Fernando went out of the room. "She _really_ doesn't want to talk about it."

"Told you."

"You should let her be, for now." And he went downstairs, using the ramp this time. Hugo followed him, still wondering what to do about Joan and Edward Cullen. He kept thinking for long after Fernando and Jacob had left, and long after he should have gone to bed. In the middle of the night, he heard a noise coming from the garden, then from Joan's room. Fearing for the worst, he ran upstairs, to hear voices through the door.

"What are you _doing_ here ?" Joan was trying to whisper, but obviously couldn't contain all of her rage.

"I came to see you." A voice Hugo didn't know. It sounded like a young man. The Cullen boy ? "I'm sorry I made you sad, Joan." Pause. "Is there anything I can do to make you like me again ?"

New pause, then Joan answered. "Don't do it again." Do _what_ ?

"I promise I never will."

"How will you repent, Edward ?"

"I'm going to church this Sunday, to ask for the Lord's forgiveness. Come with me, please."

"Okay." She hadn't even paused to think about it ! "What did you do with… _it_ ?" Hugo was getting more and more frustrated at his daughter's apparent inability to say _out__loud_ what exactly Edward had done.

"I buried it. Just like I should."

Hugo heard another noise — apparently Edward had left through the window. _I __have __to __find __out __what __that __was. __It __may __be __what __we __need_. He felt the urge to text Lynne, tell her to have her men watch Edward, but he knew she'd be asleep. Hugo decided to do the same, knowing the next day promised to be a _long_ day.

* * *

><p>James watched, hidden in a tree, as the Cullen boy got his plaything back under control.<p>

"So he buried Emmet. Are you thinking what I'm thinking ?" James whispered to the intention of Parere.

"I doubt our brains can process the same amount of information at once." James frowned in spite of himself. "But in this very case, we _are_ probably thinking the same thing. We'll get Emmet back."

"Why do you want him so much ?"

"He could be a useful tool. And I _want_ to destroy this coven."

"Why ?"

She waited a long time before answering, eyes set on the window. "You said it, they're very powerful. We have to get rid of them. We have to find out _how_ a small coven got that high up."

James didn't need to feel the woman's emotions to realize this was not true. Or at least, not all of it. But he didn't say anything. After all, their goal was the same, so it didn't matter.

"You didn't ask why I attacked him again."

She shrugged. "I don't care about why you're being stupid as long as it doesn't get you killed."

"I wanted to check his strength again. I wasn't sure of something after our previous fight."

"Really ? What ?"

"Edward Cullen has too much strength, too much honor. More than his father, probably. Why would the Cullen patriarch give his son more power than himself ? It's crazy."

"They're all plotting, James. All the time. That's how they became so powerful in the first place, you can bet. You shouldn't worry too much about that. We'll get them, I know we will."

* * *

><p>Lynne was barely awake that her cellphone rang, indicating a text message incoming. She took her phone ; it was from Stark, the man she had sent to watch the Cullens. It was an unofficial mission, and John Stark was the best for it. The young man had been dispatched to Forks a few years ago, fresh out of school, and had gained her trust during another dark case similar to this one. She read the message.<p>

_Emmet__ Cullen __has __gone __missing. __All __the __rest __of __the __family __seems __to __not __worry __about __it. __Joan __Smith __was __also __there, __and__ she __ran __out __in __tears. __Edward __Cullen __went __after __her_.

Emmet Cullen. Lynne tried to gather what she knew of him. A strong man, with a honest look in his face ; when she had talked with him, he had seemed really willing to help her. But he was a Cullen, and if she was right, he had still lied to her. And if he _was_ dead… It would make for a second crime with the Cullen siblings around. Enough to be officially allowed to search the house, to have proper agents watching them, investigating on them, and so on.

Lynne's phone rang again. Incoming call, this time ; it was Hugo. "Yes ?"

"Lynne, I may have something interesting you."

"Me too. You first."

Hugo seemed surprised. "Joan tried to dump Edward. He apparently did something terrible — that involved burying something."

Lynne had a faint, tired laugh. "I think I know what that is. Emmet Cullen is missing, it seems."

"You think… ?" He didn't finish his question, but what he meant was obvious.

"I don't know, but if he was buried, I may be able to find him. I'll send a team with a few dogs, they should be able to find him. Hugo… We'll get them. I know we will."

"Lynne… Be careful. If they feel threatened… And don't forget. There's still a chance we could be wrong."

"We'll see that when we have Emmet Cullen's body." And she hung up.

When she reached her office, later in the morning, she immediately gave her orders. Then, Stark came to her, and told her a woman had come to talk to her, and waited in her office ; she went straight there to meet her. She looked young, though her green eyes looked older than her face showed ; her most prominent feature was her hair, silvery hair with a metallic shine to them. If not for the hair — Lynne was sure she had never seen such hair — she looked vaguely familiar.

"Hello, are you detective Lynne Epieu ?"

"Yes, Mrs…"

"Parere. Jane Parere."

"May I do something for you ?"

"Actually, _I_ may do something for _you_. I heard of your daughter, you see."

Lynne's eyebrows jumped up in the air. "What about my daughter ?"

"I guess you know the Cullen family."

"Yes…"

"Have you investigated in their direction ?"

What did the woman know exactly ? More importantly, what side was she _on_ ? Lynne decided to not take risks. "They are suspects, like most students present at school that day."

She smiled, apparently very much amused by Lynne. "What if I told you I could help you get evidence against them ?"

"What if you did ?"

The woman laughed out loud, this time. "You're a very funny woman, Detective Epieu. Well, I don't have anything against them for _this_ crime, but…"

"But what ?" Lynne didn't really like these mind games.

"Well, there _could_ be a hint of the Cullens' horrible past in South Carolina. Have you ever wanted to see Columbia, detective ?"

"What kind of crimes ? And why tell me ?"

"I cannot say for sure what they did. These are rumors, mostly… But if you went there, there _might_ be someone with more evidence than I have here. As for why you… I can't trust anybody who actually knows the Cullens. I'm not asking you, or telling you, to go there. But if your investigation came to a dead end… Remember my words."

"I won't leave my town to the Cullens just for an illusory past crime."

The woman's smile faded. "Of course not. I don't expect you to do that. But if they happened to disappear, try to reconsider your position. Now, goodbye, detective. Oh, almost forgot… Here's for you." Out of her purse, the woman brought a little box. "Chocolate. Everyone should have chocolate to overcome grief."

And the woman left. Lynne immediately called on John Stark. The young man came in. Lynne couldn't notice, after Parere's silvery hair, how the sun played with the young man's hair : the dark shade of auburn seemed to turn to real fire. It made for a pretty contrast, and reminded her as well of Hugo. She had also noticed Hugo's auburn hair a lot when they were younger. But… it was time to work, not to have daydreams !

"You follow that woman for me and find out more about her. Jane Parere, admitting it's her real name."

"Yes, Lynne." And he raced out of the office.

Lynne thought some more of what Parere had said. Maybe there _was_ information about the Cullens in Columbia… But Lynne didn't dare go herself and leave the Cullens here, nor did she dare send someone. Not even Stark ; he was loyal, but he was _not_ ready for something like this, which might require to step out of legality. She'd consider it, had she no other choice. But there still was a corpse to be found.


	7. Chapter 6 — Trouble

Joan had not gone to school for the rest of the week, pretending to her father she was still heartbroken. Surprisingly, the old bastard seemed okay with it. On Sunday, though, Joan woke up early and dressed in a casual black outfit — for she and the Cullens would go to church, and she had to mourn Emmet, even though officially, he wasn't dead, only missing. Alice texted her when they arrived, to make sure they wouldn't wake Joan's father up. She cautiously walked down the stairs, grabbed white sneakers — her black stilettos wouldn't be too appropriate and she didn't have any other black shoes. She then walked out and got in the Cullens' car, parked outside. She gave Edward a quick kiss on the lips, said hello to the others, and Carlisle drove to the church.

When they arrived, Joan felt the urge to be alone. She told Edward to wait for her inside, and walked in the park around the church. She pulled out her iPod and listened to her "sad moments" playlist. With Switchfoot's _Meant __to __live_ in her ears, she wondered why Emmet had betrayed them to the evil James. Had he even betrayed them ? Joan was sure he had only tried to follow the Lord's command to not kill. But Edward seemed so convinced… Maybe he knew better. Emmet was his brother after all. Unable to make up her mind, she joined the other inside the church.

At this early hour, the place was still empty, except for the Cullens : even the priest, Father James Holden, wasn't here. The church looked beautiful in this early hour, with the rising sun's light playing through the stained glass. It reflected off the many golden candelabra, but the candles themselves were not lit. She glimpsed Edward right in front of the effigy of Jesus on the cross, and walked up to him. He turned to look at her as she came closer, his face showing the depth of his sorrow. She hugged him.

"Ward !" _Ward_ was the diminutive she had come up with a few days ago, and she loved it. Edward looked like he was about to cry. "No, don't, it'll be okay." She was trying her best to not think of the feeling of his muscles in her hands — this was not the right moment for _that_.

"I cannot believe what he did, Joan," he whispered, "or that I killed him." He remained in her arms for a short while, then regained composure. Joan gently pushed him away so he could ask for God's forgiveness. He kneeled in front of the cross.

"O Father who art in Heaven, blessed be Thy name. I, Edward St. Paul Cullen, but one of your flock, have besmirched your gift of life ! Dear Father, a few days ago I killed a man who until then had been like a brother to me. He loved me, and I loved him, but he betrayed my trust and the safety of my lover, Joan St. Sanctuary Louisa Smith, for an evil unholy being who doth not believe in you. Although I do not expect forgiveness, Dear Lord, I want to let you know how deeply sorry I am. When the time comes, I expect your judgement to be as it shall be. Thank you Lord for your patience. Amen."

Joan raised her eyebrows. That was _not_ a conventional prayer. But when Edward looked up to her, she erased the surprise from her face and presented him a sad smile. He looked so sexah, once more. She could see a tear about to fall from one of his amber eyes. Right there, she knew the Lord would understand that it was all for the greater good. Edward had sinned to save her life — what better way to prove love ? And didn't God want to spread love ? She took his right hand in hers and helped him on his feet, then they walked out together. Suddenly, he looked at her, then rushed away so fast he literally disappeared out of sight. Joan understood at once : he wanted to be alone. _I'll__ see__ him__ tomorrow __at __school,__anyway_. She went to the local store to buy ice cream — raspberry always made her grief seem to vanish at once. When she was almost home, she heard a voice calling her out in her back :

"Hey girl, this looks great ! Why black, though ?"

Jenny ! She didn't know about Emmet ! They had started to date the very day he had betrayed them, and in the confusion, Joan had forgotten about her friend ! Joan turned to her, looking for the right words.

"Joan ? Something wrong, girl ? You look so sad…"

She cracked. She ran to take her friend in her arms and whispered. "It's Em." Joan started to cry. "He's _dead_, Jenny ! He was _murdered_ !"

"What ?" Jenny screamed. Joan felt sorry for her. She had _always_ loved Emmet, and at the very moment she could date him, he died. Yet Joan had to tell her something else. For Edward's sake.

"Jenny, listen… No one must know of this. Officially, Emmet's just missing. It's very important, you hear me ? His family has trouble already with that bitch Britney's death, if the police learns of Emmet's death, it will get even worse. Okay, Jenny ? You won't tell ?"

The girl looked at her with teary eyes for a second, then nodded. "I won't harm Emmet's family. I'm sure he wouldn't want that." Joan sighed, relieved. "Tell me… what happened."

Joan brought her friend to her room, and locked the door — her dad was apparently not there, but she wanted to make sure they'd be safe. For a good hour, Joan explained everything that happened with James. Of course, Jenny knew part of it, since she was in the cafeteria with the others during the first attack. Joan left out the part where Edward had killed Emmet ; the way she had told Jenny, it sounded like James had killed Emmet before going to the Cullen house and attacking Edward and her. It was all for the best : she didn't want to have to lose her friend to be with Edward. Jenny seemed a little happier to know that Emmet had died because he had tried to follow God's words. Which was true, in the end ; that's all that mattered, right ?

She decided to take Jenny to a movie, but when they left, they met Jacob, the young gardener. He was barely younger than Joan, and had inherited most of his mother's American Indian look — which Joan had always thought a good thing, considering how ugly his Mexican father looked. He was a cute boy, though definitely not _sexah_ like Edward.

"Hello, Jacob !" Joan greeted him.

"Hey Joan !" he said back, smiling at the two of them. He smiled a lot, Jacob, despite the fact that Joan always saw him working — since his father was in a wheelchair and his mother was dead, he had to earn money by himself.

"An who's that ?" Jenny asked Joan. She sounded very interested.

"Oh, right, you two haven't met yet ! Jenny, that's Jacob ; he's our gardener now that his father can't work. Jacob, that's my friend Jenny." They shook hands. "Well," Joan said, embarrassed by the way they suddenly looked at each other, "we were going to go to a movie, so… see you !" Jenny and her walked away a few steps, then Jenny grabbed Joan by her arm and whispered to her.

"He's kinda cute, you know…"

Joan glanced at her, surprised. "Oh, um… I guess so. But I already have someone."

"Well I haven't anymore. You mind if we go to that movie some other time… ?" she asked, winking at her.

Joan was a little shocked. Hadn't Jenny just lost the love of her life ? But maybe that was her way of coping with it. She decided to let her friend do as she pleased. "Okay, sure !" she said, putting a smile on her face. She hoped Jenny wouldn't notice it was fake. "Oh, Em's funeral is this Wednesday, and the Cullens said you could come, okay ?" But Jenny wasn't listening anymore, running to Jacob.

Joan went back inside, to her room. As soon as she sat on her bed, Edward appeared through the window.

"Hey." he simply said.

She smiled at him. "Hey. Where've you been ?"

"I had to leave, Joan… In such despair, I feared I might lose control of the bloodlust." Joan gasped slightly. They'd have to find a solution to the bloodlust problem ; at least some way to make her aware of when he felt it. "That was Jenny in the garden, right ?"

"Yeah, I told her about Emmet. She seemed okay about it. Now she's talking to our gardener, Jacob."

"Good. I wouldn't want your friend hurt because of me." He smiled at her ; for a split second, Joan had the feeling this was a… _crooked_ smile. But then it was just his regular loving smile.

"Edward… What happened to James then ?"

"He's still after you. This time I'll kill him."

Joan nodded. This was all to protect her. "Still, if you can find a way… let him live and just make him go away."

He looked at her, deeply, and answered, almost reluctantly : "If that's what you want." He started to play with her hair. They were about to lie down, but then Jenny entered the room.

* * *

><p>Lynne was having a very bad week. First, there had been no trace of any corpse anywhere in a large radius around town ; she had extended the area of investigations more and more, and yet no one had found anything. <em>They<em>_ can't__ have __made__ that __corpse __disappear, __though_. But she was starting to consider the fact that Edward Cullen had buried something else, and that Emmet's body had been disposed of in another way. Which, of course, did not make sense ; the killer — she forced herself not to think _Edward_ — had left Britney's body out in the woods, why would he be so careful about this new one ?

On top of this, John had been unable to even find that Parere woman after she had left the office. Just like Emmet's body, she had seemed to have vanished. Lynne had made a few calls, but of course, no one — nowhere — had any trace of Jane Parere. Just like Lynne had expected, the name was fake. Yet, the woman's accent… Sounded like the accent from people here in Forks. Lynne couldn't shake the idea the mysterious woman was familiar to her, but she was sure she had never seen such a hair color before. Of course, it could be a dye, but what dye made your hair shine like metal ? That was one more thing that didn't make sense. Way too many things that didn't make sense in the past two weeks since Britney's death.

So, the text she received from John in the morning didn't really get her hopes high. He said the Cullens were all going to church, but not alone. They were going with Joan. And they all seemed dressed as if they were in mourning. So… clearly there was more to it than what they had said. What else could they mourn than Emmet ? According to the Cullens, he had gone missing, and they didn't know anything else. But that proved otherwise. No parent would mourn their son without being sure he is dead. And Joan… could be the key to all of it. She seemed to know more than what she had told everyone. _Now_, Lynne thought, _how__ do __I__ make __her __tell __what __she __knows__?_

No idea came, but Lynne didn't mind. She wasn't good at having ideas on an impulse : she liked to prepare and refine her plans for a long time. She went to her "thinking room" : a small room with a computer on a desk, but most importantly, a large whiteboard where Lynne wrote down everything she knew about her current investigation. She moved Joan on the board — from a potential victim, she had become a key element of the equation. Writing down a few more ideas, she stopped and gazed at the ensemble. She was sure another key to this mystery was the mysterious visitor, Jane Parere. There was a lot around her on the board, but nothing connected directly with the rest of the board, except for this potential information in Carolina.

Sighing, Lynne turned around to leave the room, and her gaze stumbled upon the small bow of chocolate the Parere had given to her. It had completely slipped out of her mind. She opened it and found a few pralines, but under them, a piece of paper. Written on it, a phone number. _Well,__ for__ what __it's __worth__…_ She made the call.

"Detective Epieu," a voice answered her, "I was growing desperate you would ever call."

"Parere." Lynne said, as if it was a greeting. "Chocolates were a bad choice. I'm not too much into it."

"Do you want to talk about your preference in sweets, or… ?"

"Why do you play that game with me ?"

Parere paused for a second. "What do you mean, detective ?" She was a good actress : Lynne felt the _innocence_ in her voice. Too innocent to be true, though.

"You're staying out of reach, and yet you pretend to help me. Then you leave me a hidden phone number to reach you."

Lynne could practically _hear_ the woman's smile. "Ah, detective, it's just that… If you don't go to South Carolina as I recommended you, I have to keep you away from… certain secrets. You see, there are rules, and I can't tell you everything myself, you have to find it all out."

Rules ? What was she talking about ? "And what can you do _now_ ?"

Parere laughed out loud, this time. Lynne started to dislike this trend of her laughing in every conversation they had. "You don't lose track of what you want, do you ? Well, to begin with — stop chasing after Emmet Cullen. As for Joan Smith… If there is anything she's willing to tell you, I'll get her to tell it to you. Trust me on that. But…"

"But… ?"

"I'm afraid she's not willing to say anything. She's in _love_, you see." She said that as if it was something absurd. "But let me reiterate it once more. Go to Columbia as soon as you can. When you're back from there, and not before that, call me back on that number. That is the only way if you actually want to stop the Cullens." And she hung up.

* * *

><p><em>"Hey, Jacob ! We changed our mind. You mind if I hang out with you for a second ?"<em>

_The boy had looked at her. "Sure, Jenny. But I don't think I'll be a very pleasant company. I gotta work, y'see." He waved at the garden._

_"I have an idea ! How 'bout I help you out ?" Jenny had asked. "That way you'll have finished earlier and we can talk all the while !"_

Jenny burst into Joan's room to find her cuddling Edward. "Oh my God, Joan, girl ! I'm going to date Jacob now !" Jenny was really excited about it. "Also, you know what he told me ? He said he's a werewolf !" Joan sighed. She looked as if she was about to say something, but Edward spoke first.

"Really ? He said that ?"

Joan looked at him, surprised. "What ? You mean… Edward, are werewolves _real_ ?"

"Yeah. They're very rare, almost extinct by now. But they're also very powerful. Jenny, do you think you could ask Jacob to help us defeat the evil James ?"

Jenny didn't even think about it and nodded. She was sure she could convince him to help her best friend, a girl Jacob himself was quite close to. And of course, there was what he said…

_When all the work had been done, he had asked her how she was so tireless. Even he was exhausted from all the work they had done._

_"Oh, you know, I'm really good a sports. I'm training a lot, too. I'm doing various kinds of sport with a small club at school since I'm quite young. I'm also fencing."_

_"Fencing ? Really ?" Jacob had sounded thrilled by it._

_"Yeah, it's a thing I wanted to do as a kid. I didn't want to be a damsel in distress, so decided I should kick the villain's ass instead of waiting for a prince !" She had laughed, as she always did when telling that story. Jacob laughed heartily too. "Joan is always telling me to stop, that's it's not girly or Christian, but I won't. Ever. You know, fencing is quite a sport. You work a lot of muscles, and your balance. And now I've reached a stage where they actually let me train with real medieval swords sometimes. Not against someone else, of course !"_

_They __had__ spent __a__ few __moments, __her __showing __off __basic __postures, __Jacob __trying __to __imitate __her__ and__ failing__ hilariously.__ So __he__ decided__ to__ show __her_ his_ way__ of__ fighting, __the __capoeira. __He __had __explained __that, __although__ it __came __from__ Brazil, __not __Mexico,__ his__ father__ had __insisted__ on __him__ learning __it __anyway.__ After __an __hour __of __showing __off __other __kinds __of __athletic __skills__ — __notably, __they __had __both __learned __the __basics__ of __judo, __then __dropped__ it__ — __they__ had__ ended __up __lying __on __the __ground, __tired.__ Then __Jacob __had __looked __at __her__ very __deeply, __keeping __his __distance __while __speaking._

_"I realize this is stupid of me, but I feel like I'm hiding something from you. You know, Jenny… I actually knew who you were. You came here quite often during this whole summer. You didn't notice me, the gardener, but I did. You've charmed me all this time. Jenny, I think I'm in love with you."_

_She had been quite surprised by this sudden reveal. Then she said what naturally came to her. "I… Jacob, I won't lie to you. You're cute, you're funny… But I've just lost my boyfriend, and it's likely I'll miss him a bit. You sure you don't mind ?" He had looked at her, confused. She had taken his silence for a yes and had gone on. "Then I can promise you this. Let's date, for now at least, and see where it does. If we don't try this, I'll never know if it can work. You okay about this ?"_

_He hadn't answered. He had only leaned in closer to her and kissed her. She had felt the passion he had poured in this kiss. He was younger than her, barely taller or more muscly, he looked boyish, he acted so sweet. His lips were sweet as well. All this opposed him to Emmet, strong Emmet, who looked like a grown-up man — because he was one, and probably older than that —, who was hard to the very core. And she only loved Jacob more for that._

Joan stopped Edward and Jenny's enthusiasm. "Wait, that's impossible… Jacob tells everyone he's a werewolf, but he doesn't transform ! I watched him under the full moon, once !"

Edward laughed coldly. Jenny was still a bit creeped out by this guy, especially since she knew he was a vampire. "That's not how it works. Just like we aren't harmed by sunlight for a long time, werewolves aren't bound by the moonlight anymore. They can transform at will. And he probably knew you were watching. A werewolf's senses are supposedly even keener than a vampire's, even in their human form." He stroked his chin, thoughtful. "Maybe, with a werewolf by our side… we could get James easily and Jacob can kill him. I'll call everyone and we'll plan for it. You mind if they all come in here ?" Joan saw no objections to it.

"No, that's great !" she said. "And that way, you won't have to kill again, and there'll be no problem with the Lord !" Jenny was a little hurt by her friend's words. Sure, Jacob wasn't Christian — he'd told her that, as if she'd care — but still, he was her boyfriend now ! Yet, she didn't say anything. She was sure that killing for a noble cause could not be that evil — plus, she thought the Bible was more a moral guideline than a bunch of super-strict rules you're forced to follow.

Edward's siblings came by, Jenny went to tell Jacob to come in as well, and they all went to the living room — Joan's own room was a little too small for so many people. They were talking strategy, when they heard someone knock at the door. Joan went to open, and let out a horrified gasp. It was Emmet.


	8. Chapter 7 — Manipulation

When Jenny saw Emmet, she reacted the only way she could think of. She rushed to him and hugged him tightly. He returned her embrace.

"How is it possible ? You're supposed to be…" Her voice died in her throat.

Emmet didn't answer. He took her by the hand and walked up to the others. "So, what's the plan ?"

"What do you mean ?" Edward roared.

"Well, how are we going to beat James ?" Emmet looked confused

"You're dead !" Edward looked completely out of control. "I killed you !" Wait, what ? _Edward_ had killed Emmet ? That was not what Jenny had been told ! Suddenly, Jenny noticed Jacob, in the corner of the room, and forgot about Edward's words. He was looking at her so sadly. He had beautiful, dark eyes, and right now, they made her think of a sad puppy's eyes. Blushing, she let go of Emmet's hand and went to sit next to Joan on a small couch ; small enough that neither Emmet nor Jacob could come sit next to her. But of course, Emmet wasn't thinking about that right now. Edward was still very, _very_ angry at him.

"You're a traitor ! I killed you. And until you explain this we cannot continue with you in our midst !"

"No, I am not," Emmet replied, incredibly stoic in front of his brother's wrath, "I did not want to go against my religion."

Edward had a strange expression on his face, as if he didn't know what Emmet was talking about. Then, suddenly, he looked at Joan, then back at Emmet. "Joan could be dead because of you ! Jenny could have been harmed, too !"

"I would never let James hurt either of them, you know that !" Emmet retorted.

"Liar !" Edward jumped on him, and punched him in the face once. But before he could do more, Joan rushed to him.

"No ! Ward, God wants the family to stick together ! Brothers should never, ever fight ! Remember Cain and Abel, it ended horribly ! You sinned once and were forgiven, now stop it !"

Jacob walked to them too, and forced Edward to let go of Emmet. He looked at Jenny once more, and winked at her, a sad smile on his face.

"Fine." Edward said, back to his usual cold, creepy behavior. "I'm willing to believe you. But that doesn't explain why — _how_ — you're back."

Emmet had a weird grin on his face. "Let's leave it for later, okay ? Right now, it's time to chase some evil vampire, right ?"

"Not quite. We'll start tracking him down shortly after dawn, and until then, we should go somewhere safe. Like our home. Alice, you can drive them there ?" It was obvious who was _them_ : only Joan, Jenny and Jacob needed a car at all.

She nodded, and they all left Joan's house. Jasper, Edward and Rosalie had already left, running at full speed, and Alice and Joan were in the car, leaving Jenny alone with Emmet and Jacob.

"What is wrong, Jenny ?" Emmet asked "Since I've come back, you've acted weird."

"It's… Emmet, I thought you were dead, you see. And now… I have to sort through my feelings." She looked at Jacob, who nodded slowly, as if he understood. But… _did_ he understand, really ? She had loved Emmet for so long, and now had a second chance with him, but after that afternoon with Jacob… He had been so gentle with her, so naively telling her everything he felt… He had made something grow in her heart, and now she was confused.

She looked back at Emmet. If he hadn't understood until now, the mutual glance Jenny and Jacob had shared had probably opened his eyes. "Oh. Well, I can't force you, Jenny. Just… don't rush your decision." She nodded, then looked away. She felt she was about to cry.

"Come on, we have to go." And she ran to Alice's car, followed by Jacob. She quickly took the passenger seat, next to Alice, to force Jacob to sit in the back, far from her. As for Emmet, he ran to catch up with the other vampires.

* * *

><p>When they reached the Cullens' house, Joan felt quite uncomfortable. During the whole ride, Jacob had gazed at Jenny intensely, and she had blatantly ignored him, even when he had directly talked to her. Joan wondered what was suddenly so wrong. Could it be she loved both Jacob and Emmet, and was confused by it ? That wasn't very Christian of her — but then, neither were her passion for sports. On the other hand, Joan had thought dating Jacob was just Jenny's way to forget Emmet, and now that the vampire was back, Joan had thought she'd let go of him. But obviously, this wasn't the case.<p>

Entering the house, Joan saw the others had already arrived. She'd never imagined how fast the vampires could run ! They met Carlisle and MC, and explained them the idea they had formulated. Carlisle decided to help Edward and Alice plan the hunt for James some more. As for MC, she brought her other children and the guests to the kitchen, and offered them all a few cakes just out of the oven — a chocolate cake, and the woman's "secret recipes", cakes each based around a different fruit. They were all delicious ; she was a very good cook, really.

"Mrs Cullen," Jenny asked, "how come you cook so much ? I thought you vampires didn't eat."

The woman smiled, starry-eyed. "Well, we can eat, it's just not necessary. It wouldn't be easy to hide if we couldn't eat _anything_, now would it ?" Joan almost let out a sigh : everything this woman said made her sound dim-witted. "But, you see, young girl, it's a very pleasant thing, to cook. You always control what you're doing, and if something goes wrong, it's because _you_ didn't follow the recipe. I wish life was that simple !" She laughed, but was the only one to do so. "Ah, dear boys and girls, you're too young to understand. Do you want to learn my secret reason to cook like that ?"

"Sure." Jenny said. She actually sounded more polite than actually interested.

"Well, people are a little bit like the ingredients of a cake. If you know the proper recipe, you can make _anything_ out of them !" She laughed again, and once more was the only one to do so. "But enough of my nonsense. Eat ! These are much more tasty when they're still warm."

MC left the room to bring a piece of each cake to Carlisle, Edward and Alice. While Jasper, Emmet and Rosalie went to show Jenny the large TV and the many movies and video games that went with it, Jacob asked Joan to come with her outside, on a balcony outside of the kitchen.

"You didn't ask me why I had agreed to help them protect you."

Joan frowned. "You're also protecting Jenny. Plus, I'm her friend, so…"

"Yeah. But no. You know Jenny's not in danger. She was there during James' first attack, and he didn't pay attention to her. You know it's not true, I'm sure you do."

Suddenly, he turned into his werewolf self. It just happened : one moment he was human, the other he was a beast. He looked like a shaggy red-brown wolf, but was obviously more than _just_ a wolf : he was taller on his four legs than Joan herself standing straight. She glimpsed his fangs ; they shone like Edward's own fangs, maybe even brighter, and looked sharper. She felt a bit scared by this sight, but then, wolf-Jacob came close to her and licked her cheek. It tickled. Giggling, Joan hugged him. She could feel the wolf's strong muscles.

"Is that how you will stop James ?" She felt the wolf's nod on her shoulder more than she saw it, since she was still hugging him. And then he turned back into a human.

"And not because someone asked me. But because I care about you." He was hugging her back now, but then Joan realized something : he was naked ! She pushed him away and backpedaled herself.

"I thought you loved Jenny !" Joan felt angry — her friend had seemed tortured by this dilemma, while Jacob didn't actually love her ! "And I am with Ward ! You're a friend, but that's all !"

Jacob looked sad. "I knew it. But don't forget how I feel, okay ?" Then he left, jumping down the balcony. Joan stood there, shocked by the reveal. After a minute or so, she headed back inside, a little scared of staying alone outside and willing to solve a mystery — Emmet being alive.

Night had fallen, and Jenny was asleep while the vampires were in their room to rest in prevision of the next day's hunt of James. Joan knocked shyly on the door of Emmet's room, still thinking about all that had happened. She couldn't believe Jacob was in love with her ! She didn't know what to do : she didn't want to hurt him, but… but he wasn't Christian. He wasn't _Ward_.

Her thinking was interrupted when Emmet opened the door. She heard a song playing in the room — Evanescence's _Bring __me__ to __life_. She didn't really like that band — they weren't Christian, now were they ? — and it probably showed on her face, because Emmet quickly turned it off with a remote controller before talking to her, half-whispering.

"Joan ? What do you want ?"

"Emmet…" she started. She wasn't sure how to say this without hurting him, which she didn't want : Edward had done enough to his brother. Then she decided to just go ahead and say what was on her mind. "How is it that you are here ? I mean, alive ? Edward killed you, didn't he ?"

Emmet looked at her deeply for a second, looking like he was searching for his words. "It's… James… James brought me back, Joan. He… he performed a satanic ritual." He was staring at her right in the eye while stating this, as if challenging her to question that. She didn't. She screamed.

"Demon spawn !" Joan spat in Emmet's face and pushed him as far away from her as she could. So this was Satan's doing ? Joan formed a cross with her hands to banish evil, praying to the Almighty, but she knew that it wouldn't be enough. Emmet's soul was now tainted by the darkness !

The young man looked hurt by her reaction. "Joan ! Joan, it's not my fault ! James brought me back, he brought my torn up, buried body together and placed it in a pentagram and called on the forces of Hell ! I didn't want to come back… Not after what I had done…"

He sobbed. Joan felt sad ; Emmet was right, he wasn't responsible. She hugged him, and he started to cry. Still, something had to be done ; he was now a demonic vampire, under the control of evil forces. But what could Joan do ?

She left the room, and called Forks' church for guidance. Despite the late hour, she was lucky enough to talk to Father James Holden. She told him everything he needed to know — that a friend of hers had been tainted by satanic forces. She didn't say a word about the vampires, of course. Or about the death and bringing back. He answered he would come at once, and indeed, half an hour later, he was there.

Joan went out to greet him, trying to go unnoticed — the Cullens didn't know what was happening. Father James Holden was a tall middle-aged white man with salt-and-pepper short hair, clean-shaved as usual. He wore a simple white shirt and black slacks ; he didn't really have any fashion sense, but then, he was a _priest_, he didn't need fashion sense. He was also quite a confident for Joan : aside from being in charge of the church in Forks, he also paid visits to a few schools around town, one of which being the boarding school Joan herself had lived in for a few years. He had showed her Christianity, and she loved the man — she had even asked him to adopt her, but that hadn't been possible, of course.

"Good evening, miss St Sanctuary." He always called Joan by the name she had received as a born-again Christian ; the one she used as a middle name instead of Louisa, the name of her dead mother.

Joan quickly told him the family didn't know anything about the situation, and asked the priest not to warn them. He agreed to at least meet Emmet first, so she brought him to the boy's room. James Holden stared in Emmet's eyes for a good minute, then declared he could take care of this without a trouble.

He asked Emmet to strip down to his boxers, which he did. Joan couldn't help but notice how ripped he was — maybe more than Edward. _Silly__ girl,__ of__ course __not.__ Ward__ is __the __most __sexah __of __them, __and __he's __yours_. She didn't want to betray him, even in thought. The priest then applied holy water on Emmet's temples, and poured some on the top of his head as well, all the while praying to ask the Lord his blessing and protection, for himself and the young men. Then, he pulled back, indicating Joan to do the same, and started chanting in what Joan assumed was Latin.

For a short while, nothing happened. Then Emmet sobbed again, suddenly stopped, and started to tremble, his eyes fully white. His mouth opened, and Joan heard a high-pitched chanting. But it did not come from his mouth : it sounded as if it came from everywhere around them. That chanting sounded wild, evil, and made Joan think of those pagan ceremonies she had seen in some movies. The kind of ceremony that ends with a lot of blood and a human sacrifice. She thought she saw the shadows of monsters out of the corner of her eyes, and knew at once this phenomenon was the devil's influence trying to fight the exorcism. Father James Holden's own chanting got louder and louder, and Emmet was lifted in the air, slowly spinning around. He looked in agony.

But then, Father James Holden took out another flask of holy water, opened it, threw it at Emmet. Joan could feel the struggles of energies as the priest was roaring, in English now : "Unheavenly influence !" Items all over the room started to float, then crashed on the ground. "Be gone from the mortal plane !" A small, sharp, decorative knife on the wall was lifted as well, and started to move toward the priest… "Thine Lord commands it so !" And everything stopped. Items dropped to the ground, the chanting ceased, and Emmet fell on the ground, unconscious. Joan helped Father James Holden put the vampire to bed, and only then did she realize he was only sleeping.

After checking Emmet's vitals, the priest left the house. Joan walked to his car with him, because she thought it would be polite. "He'll be fine" the priest told her. "Thank you for contacting me, miss St Sanctuary. It's rare to see demonic forces at work in this world, but when we do…" Joan nodded ; she understood what he meant now. She waved goodbye as the priest drove off. It was really dark outside now, and Joan, shivering at the cool air, went back into the house and into Emmet's room. He looked adorable when he slept, almost like Ward did. They _were_ related after all, in a certain manner.

Joan smiled, then went to her own bed. She still had one thing left to do. Afterwards, she could tell everyone things were going to be okay : Emmet was free of the evil forces now. As she fell asleep, she couldn't help but think of James, though. He was still a threat to be dealt with.

* * *

><p>"I do admit that I'm impressed, Mrs Boss" James said. It was midnight, and he had met his superior in front of Forks' church. <em>Ironic<em>, he thought, _that __the __man __living __in __this __church __unwittingly __helped __us_. "May I ask you what exactly happened in the Cullens' house ?" He was sure she had had a hand in it, but needed… clarification.

Parere looked at him. Her green eyes weren't as bright as usual. "And how is it you know what happened ? Did you do _anything_ that I asked or were you too busy following me?"

James sighed. He had learned what had happened because he had happened to be around the Cullen house, setting a few traps, when the priest had come. But he didn't feel like telling that to Parere. "You always answer my questions with other questions ? Well, if you worry so much, yes, I have done my tasks. They'll hunt me down, but I've got a few traps ready. Some are lethal, but they probably won't fall for those. Which is not the point, of course ; I just want to slow them down. I should be fine — for, say, a few months at least. They'll have given up before that. They'll expect me to come back, anyway."

"And you will, of course. But not alone. If you can hold on for a few days, we'll have a support team by our side."

"And then we kill them ?" James knew the answer to that one, but he asked it anyway.

"Maybe. Probably not immediately, though. I want to know how they got so powerful, and I want to get information. They _must_ have a network in the whole country at least ; if I get one of them to divulge the names…" She could take the whole thing down. It seemed very likely to James that most covens would be somehow affected by this operation ; James himself had never met a clan in the United States who _wasn't_ connected to the Cullens somehow : allies, vassals, enemies, rivals, you couldn't be neutral to them. But then again, James wasn't really good at making friends, so he may have missed on those independent few.

"You know, Mrs Boss, you haven't answered my question." That exorcism was too much of a mystery : if Parere knew something about it, James wanted to know it.

She raised her eyebrows for a split second ; had James not been a vampire, he would probably not have noticed it. "You _really_ don't know, then ? I thought it was common knowledge inside the Unit. Plus, you saw me perform the blood pact with our friend Emmet. You may be stupider than I thought, James."

"That's not answering."

Parere flashed one of these smiles she was an expert of, giving her the look of a predator. "Or maybe not. You know, James, before one of your empath cousin got to me, I actually had a life. I also happened to be a witch."

James gasped at the news. "A _witch_ ?"

"A person who can manipulate a flow of invisible substance, that we call the Power, and derive and manipulate energy from it. More commonly known as magic."

James frowned. "I know what a witch _is_."

The woman giggled. "Don't blame me for being deadpan. That'd be the crow mocking the raven's blackness." She shook her head. "Seriously, James, you've been using our equipment for twelve years — a good deal of said equipment using magic — and you never wondered where it all came from ? I'm making them myself."

Well, that explained a bunch of mysteries about the Unit. James had guessed a witch was somehow part of it, but… witches were rare, since only the firstborn girl inherits the talent and the families who were granted it were not very numerous. And not many witches were willing to use their power for any kind of cause ; at least, none of those that James had known over the years had. If the Unit's leader was one, it explained very easily a lot of the advantage the agents have had in their fight, despite existing for only fourteen years.

"May I ask you one more question ?"

"You just have." New smile, warmer this time. "Go ahead, and maybe I'll answer it."

"Why did you do this ?"

"The detective is not an idiot. While missing a major part of the puzzle, she identified the keystone — the girl, Joan. You see, until Edward gets her to fully reject her Christian ways and become one of them, he has to comply to what she says and act like a good Christian. Her calling the crazy priest was a golden opportunity ; now, she'll force the others to accept their… _revived_ Emmet back, whether or not they had previously planned to." They both knew he wasn't actually revived ; out of cruelty, Edward Cullen had left Emmet dismembered, buried deep underground. A very unpleasant fate, since it wasn't lethal for a vampire. The Unit's equipment had been able to heal it, however. "As for the werewolf…"

"So you _were_ behind that, too." He wasn't sure of it.

She nodded. "That was easy. I just used my small powers as an empath to confuse him. It's actually sad I had to do this, he genuinely loved the other girl. Now he'll be confused until I can let go of him. But… I have promised the detective to get Joan to confess what she knew. And I could only figure this way."

"Making her fall for the werewolf ?"

"Yes. Very low chance to succeed, but that's the only plan I have come up with, so far." James was sure there was a bit of frustration in her voice, which he could understand : Parere was the kind who had five plans pop in her head without even thinking about it.

"You're sure that's the only reason ?"

She looked at him, a hint of confusion on her face. "What do you mean ?"

"You're trying to protect the girl, aren't you ? Trying to make her break up with Edward. Why ?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, James. Maybe that new mate of yours has made you too romantic." Victoria was a vampire working willingly for the Unit, in a personal attempt to deny the evil that was their very nature. He had known her for a year and they were mates for a few months ; enough to realize there was _nothing_ romantic about her. "By the way, Victoria will be part of the support team when they arrive." James grumbled : he'd rather have kept her off this case. "Oh, before I forget : you'll want this." She pulled a syringe from her pocket. "Vervain essence. Since they have both a foreteller and a mind reader…"

Vervain was historically lethal for a vampire : nowadays, though, it was only a little painful. But Parere was right : it _would_ render him immune to other vampires' powers. James stuck the syringe into his arms before he could change his mind. He felt the warmth running through his veins — a very small kind of pain, one he could easily ignore in a few hours. "Thanks" he said.

Parere nodded. "Off with you, now. They'll leave their house at dawn. You'll want to be ahead of them for as long as possible."

She was right. He raced off. In a few minutes, he was in the woods outside of town, at the opposite from the Cullens' home.


	9. Chapter 8 — Gone

Joan left Emmet's room. Since it was late, she considered calling her father to warn him she wouldn't be coming home, but she changed her mind — he'd probably be drunk already, and would yell at her. So she texted him instead.

At the same time, she hurried to Edward's room, opened the window and went on the balcony. The sky was brightly lit by the stars, and it looked beautiful, as if the stars were glistening specifically for her. She smiled broadly, shivering a bit because of the cool air, when strong arms hugged her tight and a sweet scent filled the air. She knew who that was.

"Ward…" She said, softly.

"Joan… I love you…" Joan wanted him so badly, but she still had in mind the bad things he had done, and gently pulled away from his grasp.

"What is wrong, Joan ?"

"Have you talked to Emmet yet ?" The wind felt like it was slapping her on the face. "Have you ?"

He came close to kiss her, but she backpedaled. Edward looked divine tonight, but he had to make everything right. He may have cleansed himself in front of the Lord, but he had to do so with his brother now.

"Joan, I… I'll speak to him and forgive him. I promise"

"He followed the Lord's teachings !" Joan could feel her anger breaking through Edward's charm. "He has done nothing that needs to be forgiven ! Which is not _your_ case !" Joan teared up. She did _not_ want to cry, not now ! Edward managed to hold her in his arms again.

"Joan, what's bothering you ? You have no reason to be upset, unless… Is there something wrong… about me ?" He sounded as if he was about to cry as well.

But it was not the right time for Joan to be merciful. "Yes, yes it is. I love you too deeply to let this pass. James is on the loose, and your family needs to stick together. And I… I need to know if you'd ever betray me." Edward looked at her, in shock. She decided to explain. "I feel as if I have always loved you, Ward. But I can't invest myself knowing you might hurt me."

"Joan, you know I couldn't…"

"No !" Joan screamed. "I need to know if you'll want to be with me forever. I can promise… I swear this unto this starlit sky. My love for you will stay forevermore." These words came from somewhere… A movie ? A song ? Yes, a song Jenny made her listen. Hopefully Edward wouldn't recognize it. "And I'll never betray you or hurt you."

Edward looked very… _focused_. "What do you mean, Joan ?"

"I mean I can't stand the idea of you ever betraying me for another woman. I mean I only want you, Edward." Jacob came through her mind at this point, ironically ; but then she suddenly felt sure she'd never betray Ward for him. Couldn't he promise her to do the same ? "I want to marry you, Edward. I want to become a vampire."

He walked away. "I don't know if I can… I can barely keep control of myself. If I were to turn you now, I'm not sure I wouldn't kill you instead. Joan, it's too dangerous. And it's my fault. You don't know what you're asking. Joan… you can't marry me, or become a vampire. It's… You're worth better than our world. Despite being Christian vampires, we're still creatures of the dark. No, Joan, I won't promise you anything. I won't marry you. In fact, we'll protect you from James, but that's all. It's better for us if we never see each other again." Tears fell from his amber eyes.

Joan ran away. She left the house, ran through the forest, not caring about James or danger anymore.

* * *

><p>At noon, Hugo's phone in his office rang. But he wasn't there that day ; he was out helping at the hospital. Hugo was the legendary "man of a thousand jobs" in Forks, after all. So his assistant had taken the call and tried to reach him on his cell phone. But it was turned off, to make sure the medical equipment wouldn't malfunction. So it was only at two in the afternoon that Hugo got the message from Forks High : Joan was nowhere to be found, for the second time in less than a week.<p>

Normally, Hugo would have been angry at Joan for this ; first she went to sleep over at her boyfriend's without warning until almost midnight, then she didn't show up at school ? That would have been worthy of a severe punishment. But… There was a murderer in town, potentially Joan's very own boyfriend, so Hugo went almost paranoid. He called Lynne and asked her to have someone ask the Cullens. Joan wasn't at their home, though, and they said she had left during the night after an argument with Edward. An argument where they had apparently broken up. Was it possible the young man had killed her because of that ?

The rest of the afternoon went at an awfully, painfully slow pace. Everything, every lead the police followed was ultimately a dead end. Night fell, and Lynne told Hugo to go home. He first refused, so she forced him — literally, she grasped his arm firmly and half-dragged him to her car, then drove to his home. When he got inside, he almost hoped to see she was there… but she wasn't.

And then he waited again. No phone call, nothing. Maybe Lynne thought he was asleep, or she didn't want to bother him. He didn't want to think of the _other_ possibility : that she had found the body and didn't dare call him. He was on the verge of drinking again, but he knew that would only bring more problems. It hadn't solved anything fourteen years ago, and it had taken many years to get out of his ensuing drinking problem.

Suddenly, the front door opened, and there she was, his daughter, his precious daughter. He ran to her, unable to resist the urge to hug her. During a split second, she hugged him back. Then she pulled back, a disgusted look on her face. All of Hugo's worries were erased by that look, letting his anger run free once more. He couldn't hold back as he slapped his daughter. Just once, and he immediately felt ashamed by it. He had never done that, even at the worst of his drinking problem. But he couldn't stop the anger, repressed anger at his girl's being so obnoxious, clueless, even hateful sometimes. Repressed anger at his own inability to stop her from dating a potential monster. And at the killer's talent for avoiding justice so far.

"I'm sorry about that" he said. "But may I know where you were, goddammit ?" She frowned at the swear, and the hypocrisy made his anger burn even stronger — he had heard her utter worse swears many times, but when God's name was involved, suddenly it was wrong. "Don't look at me like that !" He couldn't stop his voice from growing louder and louder. "You're away the whole night, at your _boyfriend_'s house, then you're missing the next day as well ! What, did you expect to go unnoticed ?"

"I don't _care_ about what you think !" She replied. "You know _nothing_ about me !"

"I know your boyfriend is highly suspicious ! Did you know two people died around him already !" Hugo bit his tongue — he hadn't wanted Joan to know about their suspicions, in case she told Edward, but it was too late. "Britney Epieu and his own _brother_, Emmet Cullen. And _you_ decide to spend the night with him on an _impulse_ ? Or maybe you planned for it and decided I wasn't worth being told about it ? Not _Christian_ enough ?" He had made the word sound like an insult on purpose.

Joan's eyes broadened, then she regained her fierce expression. "Emmet's not dead, you idiot ! And Edward _loves_ me. Loved me… I don't know anymore, and _you_'re certainly not going to help me !" She ran upstairs. He let her go. He was already regretting yelling at her — this was just damaging their already very broken relationship for no good reason. Suddenly, the exhaustion of the day caught up to him. He went to his room and crashed on his bed, sleeping at once.

Hugo didn't sleep for too long ; someone rang the doorbell. It was Lynne.

"Hugo ? You look terrible." She looked very concerned.

"Joan came back. I forgot to warn you, it's just… it didn't go too well. I kinda lost my self-control."

"I see. Hugo, don't blame it all on yourself. Joan's old enough to make mistakes on her own." Obviously, she said that to make him feel better. It actually worked, in a certain way. Lynne shook her head. "Hugo, we were looked everywhere for Joan, and… well, at the same time, I had some people look for Emmet's body once more. You know, as a last resort attempt."

This reminded Hugo of Joan's last words before rushing to her room. "Lynne… You should have someone check that, but Joan told me Emmet Cullen was not dead. Maybe we _were_ wrong about the Cullens, you know…"

Lynne shook her head. "No." She paused, and Hugo could see she was trying to decide something. "There's something else… Hugo, I didn't tell you about this yet, but a woman came to see me a few days ago. She seemed to know a lot about the Cullens, and wanted me to investigate on them — which, as you know, I already was."

"Did she give you anything against them ?"

"No. She said… it wasn't very clear, but she said there were _rules_, that I had to find it out. But she told me where to go. Hugo, according to that Jane Parere, there is something very big about the Cullens' past in Columbia, South Carolina."

"You don't think… You want to go there ? I _need_ you here, Lynne."

"I know, Hugo." She let out a deep sigh. Hugo suddenly realized she looked as tired as he did. What a pair, working alone to protect the town against a family of potential murderers ! "I didn't want to go, to leave the Cullens here. But… I'm running out of ideas here. If you're right, if Emmet _is_ alive, we have nothing to officially investigate on them, and we haven't moved a bit since Britney died. Maybe… Hugo, I'll wait for a few days, but if we get nothing, I'll go to Columbia."

Hugo nodded silently. He really didn't want Lynne to go : she was his most trusted ally for many years, but she was right. And, more importantly, he could see her usual resolve. He knew he wouldn't be able to make her change her mind. "Fine, Lynne" he said. "Is there someone I can trust while you're away ?"

"Maybe. John Stark's trustworthy, I think. I'll appoint him as head of the police while I'm away. People will probably complain about that, and it'll start a lot of rumors, but he's the best man I've got. However… he's still quite new in it, Hugo. Don't ask too much of him, especially if it's not completely legal."

"Let's first see if you leave at all."

Lynne smiled. "Hugo. I likely will go, you know it. Don't try to delay it." She paused for a while. "Well, I should already plan for everything, _if__I__leave_," — she smiled at Hugo — "and that means hard work. I'll go to sleep now. You should as well. Good night, Hugo." And, without letting Hugo time to answer in any way, she kissed him on the cheek — French tradition — and left.


	10. Chapter 9 — Friends

When Joan woke up, she first thought the past day and a half had been a horrible nightmare — the exorcism, Ward leaving her, spending a whole day and most of the night semi-comatose, somewhere in the woods… It all seemed completely surrealistic.

Then of course, she realized the memory was too vivid to be just a dream. But she still couldn't believe Edward had dumped her. Did he even do that ? Joan wasn't so sure… why had he wanted to leave her ? He had said she was "worth better than their world"… so he left her because she was so hot ? That would be pretty unfair. Surely he had misspoken, or had changed his mind now. Yes. She'd go see him and they'd get back together.

Happy at the thought, she got out of bed to leave as quickly as possible. But as she was reaching for her room's door to go to the bathroom, her optimism vanished and she gaped in shock at the wall. All her pictures of Edward — over a hundred that she had carefully displayed in a nice pattern that she thought looked just like Edward's face — had been ripped off. Ripped off by what was clearly a vampire's fang.

Panicked, Joan opened a box on her desk — empty. It held a few things that reminded her of Edward — a lock of hair, a worthless ring he'd given to her, and a hair clip shaped like a cross that belonged to Alice — and all those things were gone. Joan knew at once what this meant — Edward had come into her room while she was asleep and had done this to force her to give up on him ! All of this just because she was hot ? Joan felt terrible. She wondered if this was how Jesus felt when he had been betrayed by Judas. At least, Joan felt like she could forgive Edward, just like the Lord had forgiven Judas. She couldn't stand the idea of living without Edward. But would she have the chance to forgive him at all ?

She wanted to call Jenny, but realized it was too early. She'd see her at school, anyway. Joan got ready to go and went downstairs, where she met her dad. She carefully tried to avoid him and leave at once, but he stopped her.

"Where are you going ?"

"School. Where else would I go ?" _God_, her father could be annoying at times !

"Really ? Don't act like you're all innocent, Joan." He paused, seeming to calm down. "All right, then. Go to school. But first, you should know : no more disappearing anywhere. A normal parent would ground you forever with what you did yesterday. I give you one last chance. I want to know where you are, at every single moment. If you're going somewhere, you warn me at once. Use your cell phone ; I'm the one paying for it anyway. And no more sleeping over. You come back home for dinner every day."

Joan sighed. Really ? Her father wanted to _spy_ on her now ? Still, she managed to utter a very unconvincing "Yes, dad."

"And, Joan. No lying. I'll know if you lie to me."

Joan didn't even care to answer, and left to school.

* * *

><p>This had been a hard day at school. Jenny had completely failed her experiment during a chemistry lab, failed to answer any question her literature teacher had asked her, to the point that he'd assigned her an extra homework. And then Mr Saltzmann, in biology, had told her she wouldn't be able to succeed in med school as she dreamed to if she kept slacking that way.<p>

In Jenny's defense, the recent events had been quite unsettling. First Joan vanished completely for a whole day — Jenny had only learned this very morning that her friend was fine and back home — then Emmet announced her the Cullens were moving out, and they'd not be able to see each other again for a while. And she still didn't know who she was to choose, Emmet or Jacob. It reminded her of an article she'd read on TV Tropes — a typical situation where you had to choose between two lovers… What was the name again ? Oh, right, "Betty and Veronica"._ Ah,__ shit.__ I __should__ not__ let my__mind __run __free __like __that_. It had already caused enough trouble. But… she'd have to check the site again. See if the trope really applied.

She was so distracted, she didn't notice the footsteps behind her ; someone bumped into her and Jenny fell head first to the ground.

A high-pitched whining came to Jenny's ears. "Jenny ! Ward _dumped __me_ !"

Oh. So it was Joan then. Jenny rubbed her side — her ribs felt like they were shaking — as she stood up. She was about to be sarcastic to Joan, but saw the angst on her friend's face. "Oh my god ? Why did he leave you ?" She _was_ curious about that ; she knew that the Cullens were leaving because Edward wanted to stay away from Joan for a while, but didn't know why exactly.

"Because, of all the ironies, I'm too hot !" Joan answered. _Um, __what__ ?_ So much for knowing the reason they left, then. Jenny offered to drive her friend to Joan's house — she'd just received a car for her seventeenth birthday — and to stay with her for a few hours. Joan had already disappeared for a day ; Jenny wanted to keep an eye on her until her father was home. All the while, Joan angrily explained some random nonsense about bloodlust, James, Joan being too good to be a vampire, Joan wanting desperately to be one, Edward having commitment issues, and some more stuff Jenny didn't even really pay attention to.

When they reached Joan's house, they went straight to her room. As her friend was leaning on her bed, Jenny realized her friend would soon get depressed, thinking about Edward all the time. She tried to think of a way to keep her focused on something else. She kept talking as she thought. "How could he leave you, girl ! Bah, you're way too hot for him, anyway." That should make Joan feel better.

Her friend smiled dimly at her. "You're right." Well, talk about humility ! "I am, even if I'm just barely hotter than him. Thank you. But… you know, I still miss him. He's the love of my life, Jenny !"

Joan kept for herself all she would normally say — she was only sixteen, she would have plenty of time in her life to find someone else, as an idea popped in her mind. Talking about her friend's look had made her feel better, so to keep her busy…

"Hey, Joan, you know what you need to move on ? A complete overhaul of your look !" Joan's expression went from sadness to pure, genuine joy in an instant ; Jenny had been right. So they worked on it : they washed away Joan's red dye to have her hair back to its natural brown. Joan asked Jenny to tie her hair in what Joan called "epic ponytails" — which were really just two asymmetrical pigtails and a classic ponytail —, but Jenny convinced her to let her hair flow naturally instead. Jenny then improvised a make-up style from a video she remembered seeing on Youtube once. It was quite different from Joan's usual lavish, clashing bright colors, which was the point ; changing. Jenny guessed Joan would revert to her usual style in a few days at most, but her friend seemed happy with the result for now.

Jenny was picking up some clothes for her friend — a simple cream-colored T-shirt and jeans and Joan's only shoes that were sensible instead of _sexah_, white sneakers — when they heard noise downstairs. Leaving Joan with the clothes, Jenny went to see who that was, and stumbled upon Jacob. Jenny let out a squee — she couldn't help it — and went to hug him.

"Jacob ! I didn't know you'd be there today !" He wasn't supposed to work on Tuesday.

"Oh…" he blushed — Joan had come downstairs now. Jenny suddenly realized he was quite uncomfortable, and let go of him. That made him blush even more, for some reason. "Well, I had some stuff to catch up with — I've been a little late with work with all the vampire hunting." He suddenly realized Joan's new look, and noticed something was quite odd. "Is something wrong, Joan ?"

"Ward broke up with me because I smell too good !"

He frowned, perplexed. "Well, I didn't really like him anyway. I knew he wasn't that good of a guy." Jenny glimpsed a very weird expression on Joan's face, as if Jacob's words had a much… deeper meaning. Then Joan shook her head and started to cry.

"He isn't bad, we just have issues we need to sort. He wants to eat me all the time, but I need to be with him forever. It's where I belong."

Jacob and Jenny exchanged a puzzled look, then he went to hug her. Jenny didn't mind : they were friends for a long time. "It will be okay" he said, stroking Joan's hair.

Joan's father went home soon afterwards. Jenny and Jacob decided to go to a movie together, and Jenny discreetly asked Hugo to let his daughter go with them. She knew Joan would probably not care about her father's opinion, and realized he probably knew it too, but she felt it wasn't right to just leave without asking. After all, Joan was theoretically grounded. Hugo agreed to let his daughter go, and they left.

* * *

><p>Joan had gone to the bathroom after the movie. When she came out, only Jacob was there.<p>

"Where's Jenny ?" she asked, suspicious.

"She had to go home, her father called her" he answered. "Do you want to come to my house ?" he asked, smiling broadly.

Joan hesitated, but then a thought popped in her mind. Jacob had said he loved her, and he was always so nice and… maybe Edward was _not_ the only love of her life. Maybe she could take a chance with Jacob. Maybe… Jenny would understand. She would still have Emmet, anyway. So she nodded, and he drove her to his house, in the La Push reservation where his mother's tribe — the Quileute tribe — lived. After Joan had said hello to Fernando, they went to Jacob's room. It was big, completely messy — not all that surprising for a fifteen-year-old boy — and it smelled like… well, like a werewolf. The smell reminded her of various animals, like dogs, and the wolves she'd once seen at a zoo, but with something… more. It wasn't as sweet as Edward's scent, but it made her feel very… comfortable.

Jacob sat down on his bed and watched Joan. She went to sit next to him and asked him : "Are you still going to kill James ?"

"Yes, I won't let him hurt you. I don't want him to kill someone as… beautiful as you."

Joan blushed, but so did Jacob, although he smiled at the same time. She leaned closer to him to hug him. Her lips went close to Jacob's…

* * *

><p>Jenny had gone home when her father had called her. He had forgotten where she was — in spite of the texts she had sent him — and had wanted her to come back at once. Jenny didn't mind, though — her father was just like that. Lewis Donna was very much the stereotypical mad scientist : brilliant, completely neglecting his look and just as ditzy about anything that wasn't his job. A <em>Ditzy<em>_ Genius_, she thought to herself.

But he loved his daughter deeply, and she loved him as well. They had always lived together, just the two of them, so Jenny was used to take care of him as much as he took care of her. Jenny didn't actually know who her mother was, or why she wasn't here, because her father had never been willing to talk about it. Jenny had assumed her mother was dead, or had left, very shortly after her own birth, since there were pictures of Jenny as a newborn, and none included her mother. The only thing Jenny had learned was that she had inherited her mother's blond hair and green eyes, but that was all she knew of her.

After Jenny had managed to convince her father she had actually texted him, she left her home again — Jacob had offered her to come by his home before she had left. When she got there, she first knocked on the door. As no one answered, she tried to walk around the house, looking through the windows in the hope of finding someone. When she reached the back of the house, she saw light coming through a window and went for those.

There, she looked through it, and gazed in shock. Joan was about to kiss Jacob ! However, before she'd had the chance, Jacob saw Jenny through the window and pulled from the other girl's embrace. Joan turned back and saw her as well. Jenny felt like she could read her thoughts just by looking at her face ; something like _Oh __shit,__ why __is __she __here,__ why__ can't__ she__ leave __me __alone__ with __him__ ?_

Jacob went for the window and opened it. "Jenny ?" He looked sorry. "Come in, please." She did. Fortunately, the window was quite large and not too high above the ground.

Joan immediately started to babble. "Jenny ! I didn't do anything. Seriously ! Jenny ?" She looked very guilty to Jenny, who was getting angrier at every word her friend uttered. That wouldn't do — she had to stay calm. And Joan kept talking. "I wouldn't crack onto your boyfriend ! You know it, that wouldn't be Christian !"

That was enough. Jenny snapped. "Shut up !" Seriously, could Joan only stop talking about religion when she was talking of Edward ? "I saw you. You didn't seem very reluctant to me." And then she turned to Jacob. "As for you… You're quite a man whore. You knew I was coming, and that didn't stop you."

"Jenny, I…"

"Don't bother ! What did I expect, dating a kid ?" Jenny intentionally said that to hurt him : she knew he was a bit uncomfortable being younger than her. "Of course you're going to fall for the slutty one !" And she walked toward both of them, and slapped them. Hard ; Jenny was quite good at hitting hard, after all. Then she left.

* * *

><p>Joan was still in shock of her friend slapping her. And calling her "the slutty one". What was the worse, she couldn't say. She turned to Jacob ; he looked like he was about to cry.<p>

"It's all right," she said, "she'll come back to you." She just wanted to make him feel better. "Sometimes, she flares up like that." She went to hug him, but he stepped back. He didn't say anything, but she understood clearly what he meant. She left the room and went home.


	11. Chapter 10 — Leap of Faith

During the night, images of Ward haunted Joan. When she woke up, she felt very guilty. She had almost given in to the sin of Lust, betraying her beloved Edward at the same time !

She didn't see Jenny at school during the day, so when she came back home, she thought of calling her to ask for advice, but then she remembered her friend was angry at her, too. So she called Jacob instead.

"Hello ?" It was Fernando.

"Hey Fernando ! It's Joan ! Is Jacob there ? I'd like to talk to him."

"Well he's asleep." That was weird, considering it was late afternoon. "But I'll get him for you, he needs to get up anyway." Fernando was nice, a little bit like Father James Holden, but less nice than the priest, obviously.

"Hello ?" That was Jacob's voice, this time. He sounded sleepy, and a little puzzled too.

"Hi Jacob" Joan said, in what she thought was a seductive voice. "It's Joan."

"Oh, hi Joan." He sounded… well, Joan thought he sounded happy to hear her. But she wasn't completely sure.

"Is everything okay with you and Jen ?"

"No" he replied, suddenly sounding quite dark.

"Do you want me to come around ?"

He waited an eternity before answering. "Okay. Oh, wait, no, I'll come and pick you up."

Joan prayed and dressed in a hot black mini, white stockings and heels, a blue top, tie her hair in her trademark "epic ponytails" — and put on some makeup. Jenny had really failed her make-up the day before, but Joan hadn't said anything to please her friend. Anyway, time to be _sexah_ again. By the time she was ready, he was there and they left.

* * *

><p>James was lying on the ground, in horrible <em>agony<em>. Well, metal stakes through the chest, the hands and the feet may do that to you. As well as being beaten up _after_ being staked and having bits of flesh torn from various parts of your body.

Things hadn't gone as smoothly as he had planned. The hide 'n' seek game had started on Monday at dawn ; two days later, the werewolf had already caught up on him. But of course that would happen : werewolves are, after all, very powerful creatures, and James himself was quite a weak vampire. James had thought this would be the end already, but it appeared the Cullens had asked the werewolf to stay away from him, as he didn't attack James when they met face to face and he left instead. Still, that had given the Cullens enough time to catch up and get him. Seven vampires — of course Emmet had had to help fight — against him weren't really fair odds.

So, they had beaten him, staked him, beaten him again, and finally, all of them but Edward had left. The vampire had kneeled next to him and whispered in his ear.

"James, James… You never learn, do you ? What will I do with you now ?"

A hundred sarcastic answers had come to James' mind, but he was literally breathless, with staked lungs and all. So he had just lain there, waiting.

"I shouldn't kill you, you see… Joan doesn't want me to, and what _I_ want is Joan. On the other hand, I have to make sure that you won't be any trouble anymore. So let's start from the beginning. Why are you here ? Why don't you leave ?" James was still unable to answer, so the other vampire had gone on talking. "You obviously aren't here for revenge. You'd have killed Emmet if that was the case. You obviously had the chance, though I don't know how that's possible. You had help, didn't you ?" He had stopped, apparently lost in his own thoughts. "I do wonder who helped you. Another vampire, Emmet said. Maybe he didn't lie about it ? So… do you have a mate I have to kill, James ? 'Cause I could kill _her_. Joan doesn't know about her, and what she doesn't know can't hurt her." He had pulled the stake through James' chest. "Come on. Talk."

James had breathed in quickly, too delighted to have that less pain to deal with. He had been thinking while the other was talking. Maybe he could trick him… "Right, pretty boy. I'm not here for personal revenge. Other people want your coven down."

"Who ?"

"Like I know that. I get my information through anonymous e-mails. I was only supposed to get information, I'm not really at the top of the ladder." Part lie, part truth ; and, most importantly, it made sense : the Cullens themselves had planned for similar missions, he knew it. "And my help… You really think there'd be another vampire here without your knowing it ? You're a damn fool, pretty boy. The only vampires in Forks are you, me… and your family."

"So Emmet _did_ help you."

James had put on a dim smile. Time to drop the big lie. "No. Emmet's _way_ to stupid for such a job. I'm not sure who helped me, y'see — I was lying on the ground, almost getting myself burned. But I'm pretty sure Emmet knew and trusted the vampire. So… that means my ally is one of that happy little family of yours."

Edward's eyes had broadened. "Are you saying one of us is a _traitor_ ?"

_You__ weren't __having __such__ qualms __when __it __was __Emmet_. "If you treat them all like you treat Emmet, I wouldn't be so surprised. He's got as much honor as I have, man ! If another one, more clever, was in the same situation…" James knew the other three siblings had actually more honor than Emmet, but Rosalie and Jasper were still pretty low on the social ladder. "That would be enough to stir up rebellious thoughts, don't you think ?"

Edward had smiled. "You're fooling with me, aren't you ?"

He had put the stake back through James' chest, who had pretended not to feel anything. He had even added : "Maybe I'm actually expecting you not to believe me, so I told you the truth." James had been practicing mind games when he was still a senator in Ancient Rome, and twelve years with Parere hadn't exactly made him worse ; he was having a lot of fun. "Or maybe I'm fooling with you. Who knows ?" He had allowed himself to laugh, though that was pretty painful. "Oh, yeah, _I_ do. But you can't hear my thoughts, can you ? I have protection." The vervain essence was still running through James' veins : with all the pain he felt right now, the warmth the vervain produced was actually pleasant.

"Fine." Edward had replied. "Then you're of no more use, are you ? I can't kill you… But I can do _this_." And, faster than James thought possible, Edward had bitten James in the neck. Of course, no real blood ran there for a long time ; by doing this however, Edward had stolen something as precious : what little _honor_ James had left. After sucking up every drop of it, Edward had left, casually.

And so James lay there, suffering horribly, from both the physical wounds and the loss of honor. He lost consciousness. When he woke up, a girl was watching him.

"You're… Joan, right ? Edward's sweet beloved." The sarcasm failed to materialize, but the girl laughed anyway.

"I'm afraid you're badly hurt, James. I'm not Joan." James blinked a few times : the green eyes were still there, but the hair was actually silver, not brown. "You okay ?" Parere actually looked worried, an expression James had never seen on her face before.

"You have three guesses. And the first two don't count."

"What happened ?"

"A fucking _werewolf_ happened. I knew he was going to chase me, but I underestimated him. The guy's only fifteen and he's already a better hunter than most of your guys. You should hire him."

"How come you're alive ?"

"He didn't want to kill me. Edward, I mean. Probably feared for his little _lover_. He did drink up all of my honor. I don't even know how I'm alive."

"You are because I'm still watching over you." She pulled the stake through his left foot. "You are because the blood pact isn't all about chains." She moved on to the stake in his other foot.

"What ?" James was truly surprised about this. "Why ?"

"Why not ?" She went for the stakes in his arms. "You can't actually live on the support the pact gives you, but it allows you to survive for longer, until one of us can help you if need be. I'm not willing to sacrifice an agent, not even _you_."

"All this time… You could have told me about it."

She had a tired smile, while pulling the last stake — the one through his chest. "You're reckless enough like that." She poured healing compound on his wounds.

"I'm gonna need blood if I want to recover."

"I know. Warm blood, if you want to regain some kind of strength." She paused, thoughtful. Then she took off her leather jacket, and offered him her bare arm. "Here. Help yourself. I'll stop you if you take too much."

_Well,__ she __really _is _full __of__ surprises_. "You're crazy."

"I'm pragmatic. You need blood, I happen to have that ; and as a hybrid, you can't transform me anymore. Go ahead ; I'll put the blood pact on hold. Temporarily, of course." Her eyes seemed to shine brighter, and James felt… free. He nodded, and bit her in the wrist. As he felt the blood running in his mouth, his strength returned.

And then the chains came back on him. He stopped drinking at once and looked at Parere. "Thank you. I guess."

Parere got up, and helped him on his feet. "Don't celebrate too soon. I'm only helping you because this mission isn't over. You tried to hold them, you failed. But it's alright. Emmet told me they were all leaving to various destinations for a few days. Which is perfect, since our team arrives tomorrow." James almost fell, still feeling weak ; she helped him walk the rest of the way to her car. "Get some rest" Parere said. "You deserved it. You can explain me everything in detail later."

* * *

><p>The afternoon had been amazing. Joan hadn't really dared make another move at Jacob, since he really was sad about losing Jenny for some reason — as if Joan wasn't a better choice ! —, and she didn't want to scare him away by being too… forward. So they had just hung around, talking, laughing at funny things they saw, discussing a bunch of gossips, pretending to fight once or twice — Joan didn't really like it, but she and Jacob used to do that when they were kids, and he looked like he hadn't changed too much during the time she had left Forks. And, weirdly, all those <em>normal<em> activities were a lot of fun.

But all this was interrupted when her phone rang. Grumbling to herself, she picked it — it was probably her father wondering where she was, and she didn't want to get grounded for good.

"Hello ?"

"Joan ?" It was Alice. _Alice__ ?__ Why __is __she __calling __me __?_ "I need to talk to you. It's urgent. Can I meet you somewhere ?"

"Alice ? What is it ?"

"I… I'd rather tell you in person. Where do we meet ?"

Joan was really intrigued. Alice was usually so cheery, but now she sounded worried. Maybe even… _scared_. "Okay. Meet me at my house. I'll be here in ten minutes."

"Okay. See you there." Alice hung up.

Joan looked at Jacob, puzzled. "Alice wants to talk to me, she says it's urgent. What do you think it could be ?"

Jacob shook his head. "Don't know. I helped them earlier today with James, but they told me they'd be able to handle him. That's why I was home when you called. Maybe something went wrong ?"

Something could have gone wrong ? Was Edward hurt ? Or… worse ? "I'll go see her."

"I'm coming with you."

That was surprising. "You don't need to. I'm just going home, it's a ten-minute-walk."

"Yeah, but… I'd rather be careful. If something went wrong, James could be around, chasing you. Maybe it's even a trap. I want to protect you."

Joan blushed at the boy caring so much for her. But then she realized that it was only natural : she was a hot girl, he was single and had admitted he loved her. _Of__course_ he wanted to protect her. "Thank you" she said. "Let's go then."

They reached Joan's house without any kind of trouble. In front of the house, Alice's car — a rather eccentric yellow car — was parked, and the tiny vampire herself was waiting for them before the front door. Joan noticed her clothes — a pure white gown, black stockings and heels — and realized something was off. Alice never wore such… _classy_clothes. When Alice saw Joan and Jacob coming, she ran towards them.

"Joan !"

"What is it Alice ?" The vampire looked at Jacob, seemingly unwilling to speak in front of him. Joan turned to him. "Jacob, do you mind checking if the house is safe ?" He nodded his understanding and went inside. "So," Joan asked Alice, "what is it ? Did something go wrong with James ?"

"James ? No, we got him, he's not going to bother us anymore."

"Really ? Did you…"

Alice shook her head. "No. He's alive, but badly hurt. He'll never come back to bother you, I bet."

Joan nodded, trusting the friendly vampire. "Then what's wrong ? What was so urgent ?"

Alice looked away, searching for words. "It's Edward. You see, he hasn't changed his mind about you — he thinks he's a danger to you and all — but… He's so sad about leaving you that he wants to kill himself ! I saw it happen, I'm sure !" Alice had already told Joan of her ability to catch glimpses of the future.

Joan gasped. "No ! That can't be true !" He was going to consider the ultimate sin because of her ? Joan had been such a bitch to him, she realized. "We have to stop him. Where is he ?"

"He's gone to see the Volturi. The vampire mafia. They're based in Rome, Italy." Italy ? Edward had run to _Europe_ to get away from her ?

"It's all my fault" Joan said. "We have to go !"

"You're right. Come, I'll drive to the airport."

A thought crossed Joan's mind. "Wait. If we're going against the Vampire Mafia, we'll need help, right ?"

Alice frowned, confused. "Yes, but… the rest of our family has gone to different places for now. It'll take too long to reach any of them."

"I meant Jacob." Joan went in the house at once and called the young man. She filled him in on the situation, and asked him to come with them to Rome to save Edward. For a split second, he looked sad at the request — _he's__jealous,__I__guess_ — but he agreed quickly. The three of them jumped in Alice's car, and they sped to the airport. Luckily, a plane was just about to leave to Rome.


	12. Chapter 11 — Travels

During the night, Lynne's phone rang. "Hello ?" she said, still half asleep.

"Detective Epieu. I guess I'm disturbing you right now." It was Parere. Lynne suddenly felt very awake.

"What is it, Parere ?"

"I figured you might like this piece of news. The Cullens are leaving Forks. Temporarily. Maybe you'll want to go to Columbia, now ? Well, anyway, good night." She hung up without letting Lynne answer.

_Good__ night__… __Her __sense__ of__ humor __sucks_. Lynne wouldn't sleep now : of course she was going to check the information. She got dressed, went to her car, and drove to the Cullens' horrible house. She knocked, tried to call - she'd found their phone number a while ago — to no avail. Maybe they were gone ? Or maybe they were just asleep. _How__ stupid __of__ me. __Should__ have__ expected__ that__ in __the __middle __of __the __night_.

Lynne got back home, sat down, drank more coffee than she should have, then took her decision. If she was going to trust Parere and go all the way to Columbia, then she might as well trust her when she said the Cullens were gone. She went to her room and pulled a large bag from one of her closet. Since she had already considered leaving, she had kept it ready to go. The only thing she still needed to get were her weapons : two guns, the Beretta she'd received from her father when he had visited the Belgian manufacturer FN Herstal and a Smith&Wesson she had received as a police officer, as well as her late husband's old Winchester rifle. Lynne wasn't exactly a weapon enthusiast, but when going to face something unknown, she wanted to be prepared. Plus, the Beretta was kind of her personal good-luck charm.

She then booted her computer and got a ticket on the next plane to Columbia — luckily, it would leave early in the morning. The only thing left for her to do was to make sure everything would go smoothly here in Forks in her absence. She had already told everyone at the office — and told Hugo — that John would be in charge of the police, and she had already given orders as to what they would do in her absence.

All there was left to do was warn Hugo and John of the new information Parere had given her, and tell them she was leaving. She decided against texting them as she had first planned. Writing it down was excluded as well — it would be potential evidence they were illegally investigating the Cullens. If everything went as scheduled, she'd have time to call them when waiting for her plane. Lynne grabbed her bag and drove to the airport.

Lynne's first impression of Columbia was that it was quite warm in there compared to Forks. Her second impression was that the town was much more boring than she'd expected. It didn't really have much to draw the attention of a woman who had seen Europe's most beautiful cities.

Well, Lynne was not here to visit anyway. She rented a car at the airport and asked the way to the major police department. She had decided to start there : if the Cullens had done something, they'd have a record of it. If they didn't have anything on the Cullens themselves, Lynne could always try to find something by herself among unexplained crimes. She didn't actually expect to find anything big, but it was as good a place to start as any, and Parere's "advice" was quite vague after all.

Soon afterwards, she entered the office and went for the front desk. An old woman immediately came to talk to her. "Yes ? What do you want ?" Apparently that woman hadn't learned what _manners_ meant.

"Detective Lynne Epieu, from the police of Forks." She pulled her badge. "One of my suspects may have lived here, in Columbia, and I want to check their past."

The other woman looked at her badge very intensely. "Hm. That would be the archive, I guess ? Come on, I'll show you the way." Apparently, she didn't care that other people might show up and need her.

Lynne followed the woman inside the building. They reached an elevator : the woman pulled a badge from her pocket and scanned it ; that opened the doors. They then went to the second floor.

"There, _detective _Epieu." She butchered her name, but Lynne was used to it ; English speakers usually had trouble with the French 'eu' sound. On the other hand, she was surprised by how sarcastically she had pronounced 'detective'. "It's the large door, just there. You won't need a badge to leave, so I'll leave you there. Goodbye." As soon as Lynne walked out of the elevator, the doors closed and the woman disappeared. Lynne walked to the door of the archive, and pulled it open.

There, she met an old black man, who seemed startled by the sound of the door opening. He blinked a few dozen times, then finally seemed to remember how to talk. "Ye… Yes ? May I help you ?"

"Detective Lynne Epieu." She showed her badge again. "I want all informations you might have on a certain family, or on any mysterious murder you couldn't solve that are over three years old." The Cullens had been in Forks for three years, so obviously they couldn't have murdered anyone in Columbia since then.

"I'll look for that…" He typed a few things on a computer. "Name of the family ?"

"Cullen. The parents are Carlisle and Esme, the kids Edward, Emmet, Jasper, Rosalie and Alice."

The man looked up to her, eyes round with surprise. "Cullen ? You want information on _Carlisle_ Cullen ? I'm not sure I can do that for you."

Lynne walked closer to the man, bending over his desk. Even without showing cleavage, this always had an effect on men. "Really ? Do me a favor. _Please__?_" She put on her 'damsel in distress' facade. Her high schools day might be far away, but she still knew how to deal with a reluctant geek.

He seemed confused for a second, then he outright panicked. "But… I… How… Why…" He shook his head. "No. I have nothing on those people. Go away."

Lynne blinked, surprised. He hadn't even searched his computer ! Which, obviously, meant only one thing… The man was hiding what he knew. He was obviously scared, too. Whatever the Cullens had done, they had means to cover it up. Lynne put a smile on her face. "Very well. I'll just have to find a more suitable suspect, then." _Yeah__right_. "Thank you for your time." She left the building at a normal pace, then allowed herself to run to her car. She checked it first — the man had just turned her extra paranoid, and she remembered those movies where a bomb was stuck under your car. Nothing here. She finally started the engine, and drove away from the office and the weird man that worked there. There were more places where she could investigate, and this seemed way too important to be fake.

* * *

><p>The plane reached Rome in the early morning, the rising sun shedding a wonderful light on Rome. Joan had always heard how much Rome was a beautiful city, being the cradle of Christianity and all, and it really looked hot. And since it was early fall, the weather was actually kind of warm too, especially compared to Forks.<p>

Alice and Jacob followed her through the airport customs. They had no problem there, and Alice rented a car — she was officially eighteen years old, luckily, since in Italy that's the legal age for driving. Then they drove through the city.

"Where could Ward be ?" Joan asked Alice.

She seemed to ponder for a moment, then she said : "I'm not entirely sure. We're not supposed to get in contact with the Mafia — they find you, usually."

"Who are they, anyway ?" Jacob asked.

"Well, we have… laws, you could say. When a vampire breaks those laws, he has to answer for it to the Vampire Mafia. They're like a secret government, and they're ruled by the Volturi coven. They're very powerful guys."

"But… what law did Ward break to get killed by those guys ?" Joan asked.

Alice looked at her for a while, which scared Joan a little — she wasn't paying attention to the road in the meantime, and they were driving quite fast. "Well… you're the problem. He shouldn't love you, a human."

"Why ?" Joan frowned, confused. "It's not a sin to love me, is it ?"

Alice grinned. "Nothing about you, it's about loving a human. Edward is from an old branch of Vampire Christianity, like the Volturi ; so it's still a sin for him to love you."

Joan stared at her blankly, in shock. Ward would willingly give up on heaven for her ? She was better than paradise ? She started to cry. "Oh, Ward" she whispered. "How I have forsaken you !" No more Jacob for her — how could she have loved him anyway ? The boy tried to comfort her, but she shunned him.

Jacob frowned, then turned to Alice. "So… Where do we go anyway ?"

Alice shook her head. "I don't know…" Then she gasped, looking blankly in front of her. "I know !"

"You do ?" Jacob asked, sounding quite skeptical.

"Yeah, I had a vision ! They're under the Coliseum ! Let's go !"

It took them fifteen more minutes to reach it — fortunately, Alice had had the insight to already drive near the town center. Joan got out of her car, and looked to see the famous monument, and stood there for a few minutes in amazement. A gigantic, circular arena, it was majestic, even though most of the top was completely destroyed and all the rest was in ruins. Its stones shone in the sunlight, making them appear to be the same color as the sky at dawn.

Such beauty reminded Joan of Edward, and that snapped her out of her admiration. She looked around to see Jacob gazing just like she had, and she pulled him and dragged him with her. Alice got out of the car with a concealing outfit — to avoid sparkling in the sun — and quickly followed ; this was clearly not her first time in Rome, or maybe she just wasn't impressed. All three rushed to the monument. It was surrounded by barriers to stop anyone from entering without permission, so they went to the official entrance : however, at this early hour, tourists weren't allowed in here yet.

Instead, they walked around the place, following the path where the queue usually stands ; and they were lucky enough to find a weak spot in the barriers : someone had obviously moved some to make a way in. They used that entrance to go inside, and Alice, following her vision, guided them to a door. A staircase led them to the ground level, but instead of exploring the place, Alice picked a regular-looking stone and pulled it. Joan realized it was a lever ; and when she looked at the staircase they had just used, she noticed it now led deeper underground. Alice went first, followed by Joan, and Jacob went afterwards, to cover their back.

Joan was surprised to find light down there. It was bright, and when they reached the bottom of the stairs, it revealed a large room, as wide as the church in Forks and as high as the Coliseum. It looked like a throne room : three high chairs were actually in the middle of it, with three old-looking vampires sitting on them. They looked purely evil, and scared Joan at once. Alice grabbed her hand, which made her feel better. Along with Jacob, they walked up to the throne. As they were walking, Joan noticed many more vampires on the sides, as well as many doors — it looked like a gigantic underground palace !

When they reached the thrones, the old man in the middle throne talked. "And what are you doing here ?" He sounded mean, but he looked good. While from a distance, he looked old, from up close she noticed he only had the eyes of an old man, and his body was very young and quite handsome, with golden hair. But still, not as handsome as Ward.

Alice spoke first. "We want you to save my brother Edward, Nickalas."

The man in the left throne answered. _He_ looked very old, and very ugly. "No, we will not _save_ him. He broke one of our laws. He has to die." Joan felt the bloodlust in his eyes as he was looking at her.

That made Joan angry. "Ward did nothing wrong !" she shouted. "You must save him !"

Both of them, as well as the third one — a woman, it seemed — turned to her. The good-looking vampire — Nickalas ? — spoke again. "My brother Ralph is right, human. Edward broke our laws. Now, please shut up so we can eat you." The old man got on his feet and walked in her direction, but Alice kicked him away, grabbed Joan's arm and they ran. Jacob, now transformed, led their way, and they quickly got outside.

"It's okay," Alice said, "they won't come into the sun. They'd sparkle if they did so, and they won't do it unless necessary. They're not willing to do that to kill a human, I'd bet."

Jacob turned back into a human and Alice gave him new clothes out of her backpack. "What do we do now ? This was very much of a _fiasco_." He grinned at the word for some reason. Alice shook her head. But Joan had an idea.

"The Pope ! He would help us, I'm sure !"

Jacob and Alice looked at each other for a second, then nodded. They all got back to the car — luckily, no one noticed them leaving the Coliseum — and Alice drove to the Vatican. Joan didn't even notice the city around her, being in such stress after the Volturi's attack. And Edward's life was still in danger ! At a certain point, Jacob tried to point her to a certain plaza with fountains on it, but she didn't pay attention. Neither did Alice, focused on the traffic. Now that it was a little later in the morning, bikes were everywhere on the streets, going at high speeds in all directions, and avoiding them was hard, even with a vampire's reflexes.

Finally, they reached Saint Peter's Square, the famous entrance to the Vatican. Joan couldn't help slow down her pace as they walked there, caught by the solemnity of the place. She asked for an audience with the Pope, and surprisingly, was introduced at once, a priest leading the way to a small audience room. They waited for a few minutes, then he entered.

He was an old man, with bright eyes and pure white hair. He wore a white gown and the traditional hat that Joan had always found a bit funny on TV ; now it made a much different impact on her, and she'd never mock it. He was also holding what Joan had always called the "popestick" : that staff with a cross on top of it — what was the name, _ferola_, _ferula_ ? Whatever. The man looked at them, eyes full of compassion, and Joan immediately think of an older Father James Holden ; that's exactly what the Pope looked like.

"What can I do for you, holy ones ?" he asked.

Joan spoke, unafraid. He made her feel braver, instead of intimidating her. "We need your help to save a fellow Christian."

He nodded, as if he already knew what she was talking about. "Quick, follow me." He lead us through more hallways until they reach a vehicle. It kinda looked like the batmobile — with very pure lines, a massive aspect, and what looked like _cannons_ at the front and the rear — but was white with golden lining and had the bat motif replaced with crosses.

"What is that ?" Jacob asked.

The Pope smiled. "Well, that is the _real_ popemobile, child. The one you see on television is just to make people feel that I am safe." He got closer and the doors opened automatically. "Come on, get in. You, young girl," he said, nodding at Joan, "come next to me and guide me."

Joan felt too honored by this. "I can't… I don't know where he is !" She almost cried, but the Pope's influence was still on her, so she toughened up and took a seat.

"It's all right, young girl. The Lord will guide us." He started the engine and drove through the city at a high speed, but Joan wasn't scared : he was the Pope, he knew what he was doing. It was already dark outside, Joan suddenly noticed — she hadn't realized time had passed so quickly !

They stopped quickly, having reached a small plaza bordered by a huge palace made of white stone ; however, the jarring thing about the place was _in__ front_ of the palace : a huge fountain, made of several pools and decorated by many statues, three of them standing in the back. It was under beautiful lighting which made the whole monument look golden.

Noticing Joan's amazement, the Pope told her : "_La __fontana__ di __Trevi_. Beautiful, isn't it ? But I believe what you want at Oceanus's feet."

She didn't understand — _who __is __that __Oceanus__?_ — then noticed a dark figure before the central statue. It was _Ward_ ! The pope pulled over and jumped out of the car, Alice, Jacob and Joan following him. As she was running closer, she made out another figure next to Edward — the Volturi guy, the golden-haired one, Nickalas ! He was going to kill him !

"Sir !" she wasn't sure how to address the Pope, "They'll kill Ward ! Help him !" As she was saying that, she noticed many vampires running in their direction in an attempt to stop them. Joan screamed, terrified.

The Pope didn't say anything, pulled out his popestick and waved it in the air. Golden light emitted from it, forming a dome around them that stopped the evil vampires. Then the Pope swung his stick again and shot a beam of the same light that sent Nickalas flying away from Ward. The Pope then ran on the water — yes, on the water, like Jesus — and picked Edward up. Then he said "Get in the Popemobile !" Alice, Jacob and Joan obeyed and the Pope quickly joined them, throwing Edward on the back seats.

Joan immediately hugged him. He was unconscious. "Is he…"

"Dead ?" The pope shook his head, still driving at an insane speed. "No. They didn't have time to do anything. He's just weak. I'll help him when we reach the Vatican : there, we'll be safe."

They got there without any problem. The Pope dragged Edward in Saint Peter's basilica, put him on the floor, and waved his popestick while chanting old words — Latin ? Something older ? Joan couldn't tell. After what seemed like forever, Edward opened his eyes.

"Joan" he said, looking at her.

She kneeled and hugged him. "Ward."

"I love you" he said.

"I love you too." Edward stared at her lovingly and kissed her cheek.

The Pope, smiling, put his hand on Ward's shoulder. "Your faith in Jesus saved you, son. Don't doubt it again."

Edward looked at him. "I know. I won't try to commit suicide again. I have a reason to live" he added, looking at Joan. She was smiling, as well as Alice. Jacob didn't look completely happy, but then, he was probably just jealous — Joan didn't mind him. Finally, she helped Edward on his feet and they all left to the airport. They had a plane to catch to go home.

* * *

><p>In the middle of the night, Daniel Borgia pushed on a specific statue in Saint Peter's square, opening a secret passage under the Vatican, reaching a large room that clashed quite much with Rome's ancient monuments : it was filled with computers and, behind plexiglas walls, various kinds of labs. This place had access to the best technology existing in almost every possible domain, and was able to easily hack into places like the NSA. Actually, they were constantly connected to the NSA's servers, "borrowing" the information provided by the Echelon system, NSA's surveillance system able to intercept and analyze more than half of the whole world's communications.<p>

This place was the headquarters of the Organization, a group of a very small amount of very powerful or brilliant people worldwide. All gathered to study and exploit any paranormal activity to gain what every single one of them craved for : power, of course.

In Dan's case, he was here as a specialist of the species known as hybrids — people with parts of vampire DNA. He was also a trained field agent, something his father had prepared him for all his life. And he also was the youngest member of the Organization at eighteen years old. Although, to be fair, he hoped to never get much older than that — Dan had tried many times over to replicate a safe method to turn himself into a hybrid, to no avail thus far.

Until then, he still was quite low-ranking in the Organization, and when the two most powerful members called, he had to answer. He headed for the conference room, where he met two men. One was easily recognizable : he was the Pope, old man dressed in white, with white hair. He didn't try to hide his identity : this base was, after all, located right under his… home. The other was a men in his mid-thirties, Caucasian, with blue eyes and long brown hair that were currently tied in a ponytail, as well as a well-trimmed beard. He was wearing an impeccable suit and looked… completely insignificant. But Dan knew better : it was exactly the man's intention to look insignificant, as it allowed him to stay undercover. That man was the leader of the Organization, a man nothing was known about. Dan didn't even know his real name, only referring to him as the Leader.

The man spoke. "Well, Dan, you probably know of recent events, here in Rome, don't you ?"

Was it a test or something ? "If you mean our dear old Pope racing through the streets and fighting vampires, then yes. Probably everyone in Rome knows of it by now. It's a wonder there's nothing on Youtube yet. But there are already at least five blogs I know of who said something about it."

"Nothing important" the Pope said. "We'll just shut them down, it's not a big deal."

"Well, if your cover is blown, none of my business. If people know the Pope's actually a badass, it may bring even more people into following you. This has nothing to do with the Organization."

"Indeed, Dan." The Leader sounded amused by their argument. "It has nothing to do with us. But it brought something to our ears. You see, the vampires our old friend fought were the Volturi — you could guess that. He was trying to… _save_… another vampire. One of the Cullen clan."

Dan frowned, skeptical. "A Cullen ? In Rome ? Why would he do that ?"

"It seems he wanted to die. Or at least, he wanted to convince a girl he wanted to die. He's apparently found a soul mate, you see. Joan Louisa Smith, an American girl from Forks, the town the Cullens currently live in. And a… very devout Christian."

"Ah, I see. You want to use her to force them to do your bidding."

"More or less. That would give us vampires we can easily get close to, examine, study : what we've always wanted. That way we can analyze their venom to breed our future soldiers. Which is why I need you."

"You want me to… what ? Take blood samples ? I'm afraid that will be quite hard." The vampires had no blood, after all. The Leader knew it ; Dan's sarcasm was only a way to make him say more.

The Leader seemed to pout for a second. "Dan, Dan… I want you to get close to the coven. Our old friend here will help you get along with them easily, and you'll go with your whole family to give you a solid background. Of course, only your father will know the real reason you'll move in Forks. Once you're close to them, you can study them. Improvise ways to do that. _You're_ the genius" he added, with a sarcastic grin.

"Okay. Sure, I can do that. But I doubt I can find anything to actually help us, you know."

"Oh, maybe you can't, but there is actually something else you'll have to do. One of Joan Smith's friends happens to be something you've always dreamed to see. He's a werewolf."

A _werewolf_ ? Dan had thought they were completely extinct ! "So you actually want me to check…"

The Leader interrupted him. "Don't get into the horrible details ; I'm a sensitive person." Of course he wasn't, Dan knew it. "Do what you feel needs to be done." The Leader was just making sure he could easily blame Dan if something went wrong.

On the other hand… you don't say no to the Leader of the Organization. Unless you're tired of living. Since he had no other question, Dan could thus only add : "When do you want me to go ?"

* * *

><p>Hugo had called the police. Again. Because Joan had gone missing. Again.<p>

This time, Joan hadn't skipped classes, so Hugo didn't hear of his daughter's disappearance until late at night. With Lynne gone away, he had decided to trust her choice and had called John Stark. He didn't know the man very well — they had met a few times when Hugo had gone visit the police or talk to Lynne, and once for Lynne's birthday, but there were many people around that time. So, when Hugo had met him, he was almost surprised to realize that he was almost still a kid. Lynne had mentioned he had only recently joined the police, but Hugo hadn't imagined he could be this young. His boyish looks reminded Hugo of old times, bringing back memories he didn't _want_ brought back. Hugo had asked for John's help, who had gladly obeyed — he probably wanted to make a good impression on the mayor.

Next morning, John had called him and told him Joan and Jacob has gone to Hugo's house in the afternoon, met a girl and gone in her car to somewhere outside town. The girl was quickly identified as Alice Cullen, which made Hugo's worries skyrocket. And now, John had asked for an appointment in Hugo's office, and was awkwardly standing in front of Hugo.

His attitude made him seem much younger than he was — he looked like a student who had made something really bad and now has to confess. Hugo smiled, trying to make him feel more comfortable. "Well, sit down, Stark." He hoped he didn't sound angry — or worse, amused. His attitude was really funny, actually. "I don't need you to stand like that. You're currently chief of the police here ; you can definitely sit down."

He nodded, but remained standing. "I'd rather not. I know where your daughter is. I mean… roughly." Hugo did not like that choice of words ; yet he remained silent, waiting for the rest. "She has gone to the airport in Port Angeles. She has caught a plane… to Italy."

_Italy__?_Hugo realized he had said that out loud as Stark startled. "What is she doing in Italy… ?" He tried to think. What was there in Italy ?

For a while, neither of them talked. Then John took a deep breath. "With your permission…" Hugo nodded. "The Cullens left town, didn't they ? And yet Alice comes back, takes Joan and that Jacob Black, and all three go to Italy. Maybe that's where another Cullen went ? Edward, maybe ? He's Joan's boyfriend, right ?"

Hugo smiled at him. He was truly good at his job. "But what can we do, then ?"

John didn't even stop to think. He obviously had the answer ready. "Well, Joan's not even sixteen, so as her father, I guess you could try to get her back forcefully, but… She landed in Rome, but may not have stayed there. Plus, the Italian police will probably not care about a missing American girl." True enough. "You could try to call her, but since she didn't answer so far, either she doesn't have her phone anymore or she doesn't want to answer you."

"You're basically telling me my hands are tied."

John looked straight into Hugo's eyes. "I could go there for you. Find her, get her back."

Hugo was impressed by the man's dedication. "Maybe. But I need you here, too. With Lynne away…" Hugo stopped to think about it. "No. Don't go there. Thank you for offering it, but don't. Even if you could find her, if the Cullens have decided to keep her away from Forks, they have enough power to do so. Warn the Italian police. That at least, I should do. Send a man you trust, if there's one. But don't go yourself."

Stark looked a little surprised by the decision. "Why not ? With all the respect… Why give up so easily ?"

"I'm not giving up. I just think that… either they have abducted her and there's not a lot we can do if they don't contact us first, or she has gone willingly and I'm confident she'll come back. You don't know Joan like I do. She may seem shallow, and she may be a bit shallow, but she likes what's familiar. Her friends, her things… She'll want them back. I think she'll come back on her own." _And __I __don't__ want__ to__ ruin__ our __relationship__ more __than__ it __is __already_. But he couldn't say that.

Stark nodded, almost reluctantly. "All right, sir." He stood up. "I'm sorry I can't help you more than that. If only Lynne was there, I'm sure she'd have better advice…"

Hugo smiled. "You did a great job, Stark. I'm sure Lynne would be proud of you. I'll make sure she is, anyway."

The young man looked very enthusiast at the thought. "Thank you, sir. Thanks a lot." He left the room. Hugo smiled again. He was so obviously in love with Lynne, it was painful to see. But then again, Hugo wasn't going to interfere in that regard.

Hugo's smile faded when his thought drifted back onto the subject of Joan. He really hoped she _would_ come back…

* * *

><p>Lynne had the impression of having wasted her day. It was already dawn, she hadn't had any sleep in over twenty-four hours, all for nothing. The first police department had been quite a trendsetter, and everywhere Lynne had gone and asked about the Cullens in some ways, she'd been thrown out without any answer. In the end, she'd actually stopped asking about the Cullens and just about "some wealthy family's dark past", which apparently wasn't much better if you wanted to make friends.<p>

She then had tried to ask different questions, and _did_ end up with some information : sometimes, even silence can't hide everything if you ask the right questions, and silence was all she was confronted to. Everyone was apparently scared of a powerful man, named Hadrian Seymour, a man who had a connection to the Cullens. What exactly that connection was, Lynne couldn't say, but he apparently owed something to Carlisle, or maybe he had worked for him. Or maybe he was still working for him — the details were very fuzzy. He also was a candidate as governor of South Carolina — and was currently very likely to win. Which wasn't anything against the Cullens — so far, all she knew was that there was _something_ everyone was too scared to mention.

Lynne walked back to her hotel to get some sleep — she'd already tried every legal option and had decided to ask questions to the local underworld, which would be easier to get in touch with at night. When she reached her hotel room, she almost threw herself on her bed to sleep at once when she hear the muffled sound of footsteps coming from the bathroom. She pretended to walk to her bed, as if she hadn't heard, and when she heard someone moving, quickly rotated on herself, punching a tall man in the face, kicking him in his chest, then immobilizing on the ground. She pulled her Beretta from its holster and pointed it at him.

"Who are you ?" she asked.

Before he answered, someone else fell on Lynne's back, grabbed her, and threw her away. Fortunately she fell on the bed, and the soft mattress cushioned the shock. Quickly, Lynne got up, to face the second man. That one looked like a teenager — almost a younger version of John, she noticed — and was roughly her size. She immediately noticed his amber eyes, very similar to the Cullens'. He jumped on her, too quickly to let her counter ; instead, she crouched on the floor. The boy's momentum carried him to the window. Unfortunately, the window didn't break as Lynne had hoped, which would have given her more time to face the other guy.

That one had finally got back on his feet. Lynne, in a reflex, unloaded her Beretta in the man's chest. He staggered, but looked completely unharmed — however, Lynne didn't pay attention to that, reaching for her bag to grab her rifle. She turned to the teen — he had been stunned after hitting the window, but was now getting back on his feet. She jumped on the bed and from that, on him, using her weight to keep him on the ground. Pointing the rifle to his head, she repeated her question. "Who are you ?"

He hissed — literally — and pushed her away. He was _insanely_ strong — Lynne hadn't expected a man of such small stature to be able to lift her so easily. Surprised, she didn't react and hit the bed hard, breaking one of its wooden legs. She had let go of the rifle, so she quickly pulled her other gun. However, the teenager was already there, and casually kicked the gun out of her hand. He kneeled next to her head.

"I heard John likes you a lot. I always loved to steal what my little brother likes, and break it." He had a faint laugh. Lynne realized he didn't make sense — how could John be a teenager's little brother ? — but she wasn't thinking about it consciously, too busy to try to find a way out of this. "I'm sure your blood will be tasty" he added as he leaned closer to Lynne. She could see his teeth, with very long… fangs. Was he about to _bite_ her ? Her right hand grabbed something — the bed's leg. At once, she stuck it through the teen's chest. He gasped, suddenly surprised, and fell to the ground.

Lynne sighed. She would have liked to spare the teen, but had had no choice. Now, with both men dead, she wouldn't have any information. She got up, her back aching, when she heard a noise behind her and was thrown on the ground again.

"You killed Logan !" A man roared "You. Killed. My. Logan !" Lynne was turned to face upwards, and saw who was yelling at her. _Impossible_. That was the other man. She had shot him way too many times — he couldn't have survived !

Lynne heard a sound coming from the entrance of her room, and the man suddenly froze, eyes wide in shock. A wooden stick was stuck through his chest, with a very sharp, pointy end. Lynne managed to get him off of her and stood up to face her savior. He was a tall, grey-haired man, with a very plain face — the kind you can never be sure to remember. More importantly, he was holding what looked like a shotgun, but had a cannon that was way too wide for regular rounds.

"You must be the detective Epieu" he said. "I'm known as Agent Lux."


	13. Chapter 12 — Names

Jenny was about to leave to school when the doorbell rang. She went to open, intrigued — who could come at such an early hour ? When the door opened, she gasped.

"Jacob ? What are you doing here ? The police had said you had gone to Italy ! _With__Joan_ !" She was doing her best not to scream : she didn't want to wake her dad.

He looked hurt by Jenny's emphasis of the fact he had gone away with Joan. "Jenny… I need to talk to you."

Jenny sighed. "Okay. Walk with me to school. I don't wanna be late." Not waiting for his answer, she walked out, closing the door behind her. She heard him run to catch up.

"Jenny, I… don't know what happened. I told you, I've had this crush on you for so long, and then, all of a sudden, I was… confused. As if I had been… _mesmerized_ into loving Joan." The word made Jenny smile ; when she played Guild Wars, she was usually a Mesmer. Jacob frowned, unsure what her smile meant, but he went on. "Anyway. As you said, we went to Italy. But we didn't go to be _together_, it was for _Edward_. He needed our help. And, you know… I don't know why, maybe it's because we spent time together, but I realized that I definitely _don't_ like Joan." Quickly, he added, "Not that way, at least." He shook his head. "Ah, well, I talk way too much about Joan." _That's__ for__ sure_, Jenny thought. "What I mean is… I'm sorry, Jenny. Will you have me back ?"

Jenny had expected something like this, had already prepared a speech to tell him off, but… she couldn't. Maybe because the boy had once more been so honest with her about how he felt, maybe because she just couldn't resist his broad smile, but there was _something_ in her that wanted to forgive him.

Jacob misinterpreted her silence. "If I must…" He dropped on his knees. Jenny stopped walking to gaze at him, shocked. She looked around — they were close to Forks High, and she wasn't too sure she wanted someone to see that — but no one was there. Jacob kept talking. "I'm begging you to take me back. I love you."

Jenny felt she was melting on the inside. That wasn't fair ; how could he be so adorably romantic just when she was mad at him ? In the end, she smiled. "Get up. I'm not having my boyfriend ridiculed in public."

Jacob had the look of a kid who's just been given the most wonderful Christmas present. "Does that mean…?" He let the sentence unfinished, as if he didn't dare spell it out loud.

Jenny laughed at such awkwardness. "Don't you know what _subtle_ means ?" She grabbed his hand, forced him to stand up and kissed him slightly on the lips. "There. Now, walk with me to school. I want everyone to be jealous of me when they see us together."

* * *

><p>The plane had reached Forks in the early morning. Jacob had gone away on his own, muttering he had something to do, and Alice had gone back home, explaining she was going to prepare the house for the rest of the family — she had warned them they could come back in Forks. Joan and Edward had thus ended up alone.<p>

However, Edward told Joan she should better go to school — she'd been away for two days, and she'd have trouble catching up. Joan complained all the way to school, but finally agreed with Ward. When they reached the parking lot of Forks High, he let her go on her own, telling her he wanted to check something ; plus, since he had graduated high school many times before as part of his cover, he didn't care about skipping classes.

Joan walked towards the entrance alone, when she noticed Jenny in the distance. She was not alone, and Joan realized she was actually with Jacob, holding hands as if it were the most natural thing. _But __I __thought __Jacob __loved __me__!_ She thought she should warn Jenny, but realized the girl was probably still mad at her. So she decided to talk to Jacob first. She waited until Jenny entered the school, passionately kissing Jacob goodbye in the process.

When Jenny was inside, she walked up to him. "Jacob !" she shouted. He jumped, startled. "What the fuck ? No way I'm letting you make Jenny suffer !"

Jacob turned and finally noticed who was talking to him. "Joan ? What do you mean ?"

"You told me you love me ! You can't love to people, that's not Christian !"

Jacob frowned. When he answered, his voice sounded so cold Joan shivered. "One. You can definitely love more than one person. Two. I'm _not_ Christian. Three. You're a total moron. I'm not interested in you anymore." Then he turned back and walked away.

Joan stood there, gaping. What ? How could he _not_ love her ? Wasn't she sexah enough ? He said he loved her, you don't just _stop_ loving someone like that ? Why did everyone betray her like that ?

Finally, she muted those questions. Ward was back with her, that was all that mattered.

After school, Joan found Edward and Jasper waiting for her in the parking lot.

"Come on," Jasper said, "you must come with us quick. It's not safe here. I'll explain to you." Joan looked at Edward who shrugged, seemingly as puzzled as she was. She nodded to Jasper and got in Ward's car.

When they reached the Cullens' house, Joan realized the whole family was already back home. MC was giving everyone chocolate cake fresh out of the oven when Joan entered the living room. The Cullens greeted her with a dark look.

Carlisle explained Edward and Joan what was going on. "I was just called by a friendly coven in DC." _DC__ ? __As __in __Washington __DC __?_ "See, when I learned James was after us, I asked friends to investigate what he'd been up to during the past twelve years. He apparently lived in DC, and found a mate, a vampire named Victoria. The problem is… Victoria is on her way to Forks."

Joan gasped. Another evil vampire was coming ? "Is she coming… for me ?"

Carlisle nodded, inexpressive as usual. "I guess so. When we forced James to leave us alone, Edward had to… hurt him badly. She'll probably want to do the same thing to Edward's mate. Namely, you. Except you're not a vampire, so you would die in the process."

"And why are _we_ here ?" a voice came from behind Joan. Startled, she turned to see Jacob in the corner of the room. Jenny was with him, and they looked unhappy to be here.

"I would like to ask for your help in fighting this foe, once again." Carlisle seemed to not notice Jacob's expression. "She might decide to go after you as well — after all, without you, we'd never have caught James. Rest assured she'll be aware of it. She's also far from being as weak as James. You might not be able to fend her off by yourself if she comes after you. And Jenny should stay under our protection. You wouldn't want her to be hurt, do you ?" Carlisle sounded… menacing.

Jacob glared at the vampire, then nodded. "Fine. I guess I can help you."

"Good. Now, to the plan. Edward, you take Joan with you and drive her out of town. Jenny, you should stay here — if Joan goes away, Victoria shouldn't come here, you'll be safe. Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Emmet — come with Esme, Jacob and me ; we'll track Victoria down. Esme, did I forget something ?"

Joan was intrigued. He was asking for _MC_'s opinion ? The woman shook her head, laughing. "I didn't even remember that much of your perfect plan, honey. Surely you got it all right." Carlisle nodded deeply ; it almost looked as if he bowed to her.

"Then let's go."

Before Joan could understand what was happening, she was in Edward's car, speeding along the road to Seattle — they had decided against going to Port Angeles, which was too obvious of a destination.

Despite the precaution, they had been riding for only a few miles when Joan spotted a woman on the road. She had luscious curly hair of red gold, a skin even paler than Edward's, and a determined look, almost evil, in her maroon eyes. That gave her a fierce beauty, almost scary. She was standing still, obviously waiting for them. Edward steered to try and avoid her, but she jumped insanely fast and hit the car. The impact launched the car in the air, which landed upside-down.

Joan, panicked, looked around. Victoria was coming for her, and she was trapped in the car ! When the red-haired vampire was close to the car, however, Joan saw a flash of reddish brown fur, and the vampire was thrown away as Jacob, in wolf form, hit her. The Cullen family arrived moments later. Alice and Carlisle rolled the car over, letting Edward and Joan get out, and all the vampires raced in to fight Victoria along with Jacob.

However, the vampire seemed prepared for this, and she backed away towards the tree near the road. Even Joan, not an expert in the matter, understood her goal : the trees there were so tight that the Cullens couldn't get in her back, therefore losing the advantage of being more numerous. Edward rushed alone, but Victoria anticipated his move, and gracefully jumped. In the blink of an eye, Victoria was suddenly throwing Edward's body away — in two halves, torn at the waist. Joan screamed — Ward was _dead_ ! She ran up to her corpse, crying. She didn't care that Victoria would eat her anymore.

But Victoria didn't. The others had managed to counter her strategy by bringing down the trees all around her — she fled in the woods, and all the vampires and Jacob followed her. Joan couldn't believe it. "Ward is _dead_ !" she screamed. "Where are you going ?"

A light shone on her, followed by a roar. Joan looked up to see the popemobile racing down the road. The Pope came out of it, grabbing the popestick. He walked up to Joan and grabbed Edward's corpse, putting it in the car. He nodded to Joan to tell her to go inside the car as well. She did, and he brought them to the Cullens' house.

There, with Jenny's help — she didn't look very happy to see Joan, but didn't say anything for the time being —, they place Edward on a table, and waved the Popestick above him. But this time, no miracle happened. For a second, Joan thought, _Edward __is __dead __for __good,__ and __not __even__ God __can __change __that_, but she repressed the thought. The Pope tried another ritual, and another, and another. In the meantime, the rest of the family and Jacob came back home, having failed to catch Victoria. They all watched as each of the Pope's attempts to bring Edward back failed. Suddenly, a pillar of light appeared, crashing through the window — literally, _crashing_, the window burst as if the light was solid.

Out of the light, a man emerged. He was tall, white of skin, with long brown hair brushing his shoulder and a well-trimmed beard. His eyes were the color of a sunny sky. Joan knew at once who he was ; she'd seen his image many times in church.

"Jesus !" she shouted. The Cullens were all staring at him in shock. Jesus came close to Ward, nodded to the Pope, and he raised his hands. A light engulfed the Pope, Edward, and Jesus, and when it faded, Edward was intact, healed, and alive. He got up and walked towards Joan, then hugged her.

"Thank you, Jesus." Joan said. She bowed to him.

The man smiled. "It's all right, Joan. I have come here to protect you all from the evil that threatens you." Joan heard MC smirk in the back, but she didn't care — the woman was retarded anyway. "I have to warn you… They're coming. Victoria, James, and many others. They're coming right here, and you won't be able to run away, or their plan will succeed and the world will be ruled by Satan. You must fight. The Pope and I will help you."


	14. Chapter 13 — Hidden Talent

"I still don't get how they could catch you." Victoria said, grinning, when she arrived at the Unit's deserted campsite.

"You have more privileges and honor than I could ever dream to get in the Unit." James answered. Victoria had been turned into a vampire against her will, and had joined the Unit to try and fight her own nature. Parere didn't trust her anymore than she trusted James, but Victoria was still less restrained than James. Plus, she hadn't been completely dishonored by the Cullen coven before being deprived of human blood for twelve years ; that helped too. All in all, Victoria was more powerful than James, which he was completely willing to acknowledge — if he didn't, Victoria would probably beat the idea into his head.

The female vampire came close to him, knelt and kissed him. "Nothing about me being smarter than you ?" she said, sarcastic as usual. If there was one quality James had more of than Victoria, it was wits, and they both knew it. "Could it be that, for the first time, you don't want me, James ?"

He looked up to her, surprised. "What do you mean ?"

"You're not… responsive. It's probably the first time I can kiss you first. That's not normal. What's on your mind ? Another woman ?" She had a large smile. "Tell me who it is. Maybe we could try to spend some fun time with her."

James shook his head. What did Victoria mean ? He didn't feel particularly… unresponsive. "You're completely insane. You remind me of Regina." His first mate was a bit crazy, and he had loved her for that. "Except she'd know I don't need two women at once."

Victoria laughed. "I'm _nothing_ like the girl the Cullens killed. First of all, I have no intention to die at their hands. Fangs. Whatever. Also I look better." She stood up. "Well, it's time to go. The Unit's team surrounded the Cullens' house. Things did not go as planned : the family came home too fast, and they have two more allies with them. Humans, it seems. I think I'll still call the attack. But we should get there first."

The leader of the Unit had gone to Seattle to, as she put it, "get some supplies", and let Victoria in charge. _Parere__ wouldn't __attack __if __she __was __there. __She __would __gather __information __regarding __those __two__ strangers_. Still, he kept his thoughts to him — it wouldn't make Victoria change her mind, he knew it. Instead, he got on his feet and followed his mate through the woods.

* * *

><p><em>"I'm known as Agent Lux. Parere told me you were coming. Come on, we need to move. Others may be on the way."<em>

Lynne had sheepishly followed her savior to a nondescript car, not sure she could really trust him. She still had her guns with her, just in case. For all the good it did ; after watching a man survive several gunshots, she wasn't sure her guns were any good to protect her against what was going on here.

Finally, they reached a motel, almost outside of Columbia. He guided her to a room. When they were inside, he turned to her. "There, we're safe here. So, we should get down to business, uh ? How did you know a wooden stake would work ?"

Lynne shook her head, confused. "I… didn't. How would a wooden stake work more than my gun ?" Suddenly, an idea crossed her mind. "What… what _were_ those guys anyway ?"

"You didn't guess ?" That… _agent_ Lux looked skeptical.

Lynne tried to think straight. "He tried to bite me. You just said a wooden stake would be effective. He said my blood would be tasty… Wait, that's…" Lux nodded. "Are those _vampires_ ?"

Lux smiled. "You want to know more about the Cullens, I heard ? Now that you figured that part out, I am allowed to tell you more. Our rules are a bit weird in that matter. First thing first : do you know the candidates for governor of South Carolina ?"

She didn't. So he spent the afternoon explaining her the basis of what was going on in Columbia. Recently, a candidate had emerged, with a completely new party behind him. His name was Hadrian Seymour. Since his positions were mostly identical to the Liberals', but had none of the party's notoriety, everyone had expected him to lose the election. However, after some brilliant lobbying, he had somehow ended up being the favorite candidate for the upcoming election.

Lynne asked the man what the connection to the Cullens was, so Lux presented her with a picture of him : he had the same amber eyes as the Cullens and the men who had attacked Lynne this morning. Then he showed her some of the man's staff, who all had those same eyes. He explained to Lynne this was a characteristic of bloodsucking vampires — as opposed to the empaths' silvery eyes. He then explained to Lynne that Lux and the men he worked with suspected Seymour to work for the Cullens to gain influence in the United States. The Cullens may be the most powerful vampire coven in North America, they currently didn't have any real power over humans — and that was where Seymour came into play. There might be other similar candidates elsewhere, but Seymour was the only one who was in a winning position.

When he was done explaining, Lynne felt excited. She had finally pierced the Cullens' secret — well, admitting this insanity was for real. But there was a problem about that. She interrupted Lux to voice those concerns. "Okay, so, I should believe the Cullens are vampires, and that they basically rule the vampires in all of North America. Fine, I can do that. I can also believe there's a vampire running for governor of South Carolina. My question is now : how do I use that ? I'm a cop. I arrest people who break the law based on evidence. Tangible _facts_. I can't just arrest them by saying they're vampires. What do you expect of me ?"

Lux's face was perfectly straight. "Think about it for a second. What do you think happened to your daughter ?" He nodded, seeing Lynne making out the obvious. "I offer you revenge. You're right. We can't get them legally ; they have power and are legally immaculate. But we know how to fight them. And we actually have a plan to fight them."

"You're always saying 'we'. You and Parere, I guess. Who else ?"

"The Special Cases SHS Unit. The only organized force keeping humans safe from the supernatural. And we could use someone like you."

* * *

><p>James and Victoria reached the Cullens' house without trouble. As soon as they were there, they climbed up a tree where one of the Unit's soldier — a hybrid James didn't know — greeted them silently and handed them a headset to keep everyone in touch during the upcoming battle.<p>

As soon as Victoria put hers on, she called for everyone in the team to respond, checking if the device worked properly. Once that was done, she reminded everyone of their role in the attack.

Victoria's plan was simple : crash through the window with smoke bombs, use the confusion to attack swiftly, take down the low-ranking vampires — Rosalie, Jasper, and Alice ; Esme if possible —, take the humans out of the house, then capture Carlisle and Edward. Emmet had been informed of the attack, but he would not turn openly against the others before the end of the battle — he would just pretend to fight.

The werewolf was more of a thorny issue : he was not part of the coven and was apparently as fooled as the girls, but he was very powerful anyway. That's why the Unit's very own agent Arbiter, self-proclaimed "werewolf specialist", was there. He'd brought a modified gun to spray a compound that would supposedly neutralize the werewolf. James didn't really trust the product — the agent never had a werewolf to test on — but there was no real choice. In the worst case, they'd have to fight the werewolf on top of the Cullens. Considering they were a dozen hybrids and two vampires, it still was reasonable odds. Which James didn't like — against the Cullens, you _never_ have reasonable odds to win. What was going to happen this time ?

Before his doubts took over, though, Victoria gave the signal to start the operation. A few muffled detonations later, the windows were all crashed and the house was smoking as if it were on fire. _Yeah,__ I__ wish __it __was_. Actually, putting the house on fire might have been a good plan if the specialist agent had been available. Too bad he wasn't.

The team entered the house in groups of three or four, and had chosen entry points close to the living room where everyone was apparently gathered. James himself landed close to the piano. Immediately, a sharp scream rang to his ears, and he recognized Edward's pet going to hide under the instrument. Edward himself appeared in front of James, and immediately jumped on him.

James had already adopted a defensive posture — he now knew he couldn't take the Cullen's most powerful vampire by himself — and when Edward came in his arm's reach, he grabbed him and slammed him into the ground. Victoria immediately took him down, pinning Edward to the ground with a pair of metallic stakes. The couple turned to see Alice, who seemed more than ready to fight them. As Victoria jumped on the petite vampire, a beam of golden light fused and hit her in the chest. On the other side of the beam, an old man was standing, in full regalia and holding a staff with a cross at the end of it. James ran for his mate, but he realized it was too late — whatever that beam was, it had burned Victoria from the inside.

"Watch out for the old man !" James shouted in his mic. "Take him down at once !" Two agents turned to him, and James joined them, but he started to use the staff as if it were a pole arm, and used it rather skillfully to keep them at bay. James analyzed his moves, trying to find a breach in his defense, when Alice got him from behind and threw him through the windows. He landed hard on the ground outside, and there, saw Agent Arbiter and another hybrid, dragging an inanimate body on the ground. "I _told_ you it would work on the werewolf !" he said. James had no time to cheer for that, and wasn't willing to either.

James made his way back to the house, but as he was reaching a window, time froze. Literally : he was floating in the air, immobilized. Through the window, he saw all the vampires and hybrids inside were immobilized as well, Cullens and Unit agents alike. The humans seemed unaffected, but while the girls and the old man were looking around, confused, James saw that the other man seemed indifferent to all this. He was holding a small item, seemingly a circlet made of thorns. He crossed James' eyes, and what the vampire saw in these blue eyes scared him. Only two men James had met had had this look, and they had lived two thousand and fourteen hundred years ago, respectively. The man then broke eye contact, manipulated his thorns, and a blue light blasted him away.

* * *

><p>Dan heard his phone ringing. It was early morning, here in Rome. As much as he didn't want to — despite the whole genius scientist thing, he still was an eighteen-year-old guy — he had to take that call. On that cell phone, it had to be someone from the Organization.<p>

"Yeah ?" he said, still half asleep. He made his way out of the bedroom, still in his boxers, trying not to wait his foster sister. Becca had been adopted by Dan's father to strengthen their cover by creating the image of a traditional family, and she knew nothing of the Organization.

"Dan, I expect a bit more respect from you."

Why was the Leader calling him directly ? That had _never_ happened before. "Please excuse me, sir. I didn't quite expect you to call me." That at least was true. "What do you want me to do ?"

"Actually, nothing. I just want to keep you informed. The Pope and I had to fly quickly to Forks."

Forks. Where he'd been assigned to go. According to the schedule he'd get there in a week or so. "Why did you go there ?"

"We heard news that a vampire opposed to the Cullens was about to attack. I felt the need to help them. I'm rather glad I did, actually. It helped me discover the Unit was on the case." The Unit. They were the closest thing the Organization had to a nemesis, if the nemesis worked against you without knowing you existed. At least, Dan _thought_ the Unit didn't know they existed. "They sent a team ; a dozen hybrids. You should have been there, you'd have loved to study them, I guess. But, well, our plans weren't made for this. Luckily, I could stop their attack. A few are dead, the others are on the run. They captured the werewolf, though, but I think the Cullens will go after them. Their new pet girls are apparently attached to the werewolf boy."

"Why tell me this ?"

"Because I can't stay in Forks. The girl, Joan Smith, believes I am Jesus," he smirked at that, "so I can't stay here forever ; she'd start doubting it. Plus, I have been on the field way too much entirely. Nothing changes in the plan. But when you get in Forks, keep an eye open. Your father always boasts about how well trained you are. Well, you'll get to prove it, I guess." He had a faint, joyless laugh. "Ah, time for me to leave you. Enjoy your last few days in Rome, Dan."

Dan heard him hang up the phone. He almost threw his own phone in rage. The Leader was obviously mocking him, going himself — _himself__!_ — in the field for the first time in years as if Dan had needed someone to make a clear way for him, then giving him all the information as if Dan hadn't been able to gather it all by himself. Well, he hadn't — yet. But he would have known all of this had the Leader not called when he was _asleep_.

Dan repressed his emotions. _Being__ a __proper__ part __of__ the __Organization __starts__ by __killing__ the __feelings.__ By__ killing __the __boy __in __you_. His father had always said that. Dan walked to the living room, picked up his laptop and booted it. He needed to be ready in case the Leader called again. Next time, he would _not_ fail so hard.


	15. Chapter 14 — Gazes

Everyone in the Cullens' house was still in quite a shock. The battle had ended abruptly, with the man Joan had called Jesus creating a sphere of energy to push the attackers away. Jenny would almost be ready to believe the man _was_ Jesus, if not for the fact that he'd waited so long to help them. Five of the assailants were dead, lying on the ground around the house, and the others had run away.

But the victory had come at a cost — Jacob had been taken by them. Jenny had seen them do it : they'd sprayed him with something that had made him fall asleep. When she'd tried to help him, one of the men had quickly turned on her. At first surprised by her ability to fight, he'd still been able to triumph over her and knock her out.

Now, the Cullen coven was trying to decide what to do. The "Jesus" guy and the Pope had left, explaining they could no longer stay here lest the evil forces would attack the Vatican itself.

"We should let them be. What could they do to him ? If they took him alive, it must be a trap. We shouldn't be fools and go after them. When they realize that, they'll let him go." Edward visibly had no intention to rescue Jacob. That made Jenny furious. Jacob had gone to _Italy_ to help Edward !

She was about to tell him that, but Emmet was faster. "The guy helped us twice in a few days. The least we can do is help him back now that he needs us." He looked at Jenny, who smiled at him, grateful. He came close and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. If he wanted more, he didn't try to get it. For that, too, Jenny was grateful.

"He _is_ a friend of our Joan, Edward honey," Esme said, "we might want to help him. Plus, we just defeated them, right ?" That last sentence was directed to Carlisle, who nodded.

"They're at their weakest now. If we can catch them while they're still escaping, we can crush them easily." Jenny shivered at how easily Carlisle spoke of killing people. Still, he was trying to help. "Alice, anything to help us ?"

The woman raised her head, emerging of a trance. "Not really. I can't focus on them. They must be protected. Vervain, or something more powerful." What was she talking about ? Vervain ? More powerful ? Jenny should ask Emmet later.

Carlisle nodded, visibly disappointed. "Of course. Otherwise, you'd have seen them coming." He seemed to think about it for a while. "Well, then. We'll go after them. We have to show our enemies they can't harm our friends any more that they can harm us. Jasper, you'll track them. You claim you're the best at being undetected. Prove it. The rest of the family will follow you in a distance."

"I'm not going." Edward said, visibly angry.

Esme walked up to him and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Edward, obey your father. Please." Reluctantly, he nodded.

Carlisle kept planning things. "Alice, you'll try to keep focused on them as we go. Maybe their protection isn't perfect. If you find anything, tell us at once." Then he turned to Joan. "Joan, you should stay here. Your friend Jenny, too. You won't be of any use."

Jenny took in a deep breath. "I don't agree. I could actually help you."

Carlisle gazed at her, surprised. "There's not a lot you could do against vampires."

"You're wrong." Jenny walked to the closest corpse and kneeled beside it, fighting the revulsion in her belly. It was a red-haired woman. "Look at her eyes. They're the color of amber. Emmet told me that this is a mark of all vampires. Right ?" Carlisle nodded. Jenny moved to the next body. "Now look at him. He has _brown_ eyes. Tell me if I'm wrong, but that must mean he's human." Carlisle didn't deny it. "Since I dared not fight, I could see most of them. I only spotted another vampire among them. The others were human. I can take on humans. Just let me go home, I'll take a sword, and I'll be able to help you."

Edward smirked. "A sword against their guns ? Do you intend to cut the bullets ?"

Jenny rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll take a sword _and_ some bulletproof vests. My father has this prototype, and he says they're functional. I'm just not letting you do all the work to help Jacob." _And __I'm __not__ letting__ Edward__ anywhere__ near__ Jacob_. Considering his refusal to even go save Jacob, she feared he might have some reason to hurt Jacob when they find him.

Carlisle sighed, then nodded. "Fine. Emmet, I'm sure you won't have any trouble carrying her." He turned to Joan. "What about you, Joan ?"

The girl seemed surprised by the question. "Um… I don't… I mean, I want to go, but… It's too dangerous ! Ward, please don't go ! I don't want you to be killed ! You're too sexah to be killed !" Jenny couldn't help but sighing. _So __much __for__ the__ supportive__ best__ friend, __I __guess_.

Edward hugged her. "I won't die. Come with me, please. I want to be sure you're safe."

"Okay." Joan didn't even think about it ; it was obvious that she trusted Edward blindly.

"Get ready, then. We're leaving as soon as possible."

Emmet took Jenny to her house so she could get what she needed. First, she changed into something more suitable for such a travel, and quickly packed another outfit in case they were away for long. She tied her hair in a ponytail, and finally went to the basement. She picked her sword, her scabbard and the harness that went with it, fixing her sword in her back and giving her as much freedom of movement as possible. Finally, she knocked at the door in the basement leading to the lab — her father was in there as she had expected. _Even __in __the __middle __of __the __night, __Dad's__ working __if __I'm __not __there __to __tell __him__ to __go __to __bed,_ she thought, half-amused, half-worried.

Her father opened the door. "Jenny ? What time is it ? Why do you have your sword ? You don't have a lesson today, do you ?"

"Dad, I need to go help a friend. You know, Jacob ? It's very important. I might be away for a long time, and I'll have to skip school for a while."

Her father's face was suddenly graver than Jenny had ever seen it before. "Jacob… the guy who tells everyone he's a werewolf ? Your boyfriend ?" Behind her, Jenny heard Emmet moving, slightly uncomfortable. "He's in trouble ?"

"Yeah, and he needs me. It's really important, dad."

"And your friend here is ?"

"Oh, that's Emmet." She'd told him about Emmet since she'd first had a crush on him. She hoped he wouldn't say it, though.

"Well, come, young man." Emmet walked forward and Jenny's father shook his hand, looking straight in his eyes all the while. He then turned to Jenny. "All right, Jen. If you think you must do it, go. I'll make sure you don't have trouble at school."

Jenny gaped for what seemed like an hour. She hadn't expected it to be that easy. Finally, she regained composure. "Thanks, dad. Oh, and… I'll need a couple of those jackets you're working on." She hoped he would still be okay with that.

"Fine." He went into the lab — he didn't allow anyone in — and came back with the vests. "Here, Jen. Be careful with those — they don't make you invulnerable." She nodded ; she didn't plan to jump in front of bullets anyway.

"We should go, Jenny." Emmet said. "The others will be waiting."

"I know." She turned to her father. "Goodbye, dad. And thank you."

"Take care, Jen." She went away. As she was halfway through the basement, he added, "And if you need help, remember your old man's here for you."

* * *

><p>"You ready, Lynne ?"<p>

"More than ready, Lux."

It had been a week the agent had been training Lynne, when he'd received a message from another agent in Columbia. They had figured a way to expose Seymour — he used a club to lure young girls and boys into being food. Lux had called an intervention team. Officially, they belonged to the police and would search the club for any illegal drugs.

But they were Unit agents and would 'stumble on' Seymour. Of course they had found a journalist and lured him into following them, to have evidence of what they'd find. And Lynne was in the team, too. Lux had deemed her ready to do this. He'd warned her there would probably be fight, and had given her one of these modified shotguns. _Aim __for__ the __heart __if __you __can, __but __anywhere __will __hurt __them __enough __to __let __you __shoot __a__ second __stake_.

They burst the club's door open. It was rather large, and yet the thousands of youths dancing inside were really crowded. _That's __why __it's __easy __to __make__ some__ disappear __without __anyone __noticing_. When they heard the team crashing the party, most of them screamed, panicked, and froze.

"Get out !" Lux shouted. They were not who the team was after. They rushed outside in a human stream, but no one even came close to the team, as if they were naturally impressed. Lux had told Lynne they had some device that repelled most humans specifically for this occasion.

Finally, the club was almost empty, but the music kept playing louder than Lynne would have liked. Still, they made their way in it. All the club's exits were watched by half a dozen agents, and the rest of the team quickly split in groups of six as well to search the place.

Lynne followed Lux and five other agents — they were six _without_ her, she noticed, as if she didn't count as an agent. Well, she _wasn't_ an agent, after all. They quickly reached the room they were looking for — Seymour was there, with two boys and a girl — none of them old enough to be in such a club to begin with. The boys were already dead, with wounds eerily similar to the ones Britney had. Just like when Lynne had found her daughter, there was no blood. _Of __course, __he__ drank __it __all_. The girl looked like she was trying to disappear into the wall, and when she saw the team, she looked at them, with a begging look on her face, but did not dare move or speak.

The camera crew had followed Lux's team, and immediately focused on the politician's face, then the dead boys. Then Lynne heard a noise coming from both her right and her left, and two doors opened, with vampires coming out of them. Immediately, she shot one down, but the others had already killed the journalists. The camera fell, and Lux, walking back to avoid being hit, pushed it with his foot, making it face the wall.

The vampires had them outnumbered, but the Unit's team was well-prepared, and the vampires quickly ran away, leaving their leader on his seat. He hadn't even moved at all, Lynne noticed.

Lux sent his men after the remaining vampires. Only Lynne, Lux and Seymour were left in the room — the girl had vanished, and Lynne hoped she had escaped during the battle. The politician finally talked.

"I know who you are. Agent Lux of the Unit. The Light that banishes darkness, huh ? But I'm afraid I don't know you," he added, turning to Lynne.

"I'd rather keep it that way."

He smirked. "Of course. You don't want a dead vampire to come back to haunt you ?"

"I have no intention to kill you. We have the camera. You're finished."

Seymour's eyebrows jumped. "Really ? Well, _he_ will definitely kill me, then. You know, madam, Light is not necessarily good. Sure, he has what it takes to disgrace me, but he won't let go of a powerful man like me."

"That's right." Lux pointed his gun as he talked, and shot.

"What the hell, Lux ?" Lynne was shocked, despite all she knew of the vampire who just died.

"It was the perfect opportunity. I expected there to be resistance from Seymour's henchman. We'll just say he died in the battle. A lost bullet or something."

"Still, why kill him ? You had no reason to kill him. He was finished."

"Hadrian Seymour was finished. But if I'd let him live, he would have gone away, killed some more people, and in a hundred year or so, he'd have come back as someone else. It never stops until they die, Lynne. I though you had understood that."

She did. But she wasn't willing to admit it. "You should at least have warned me."

"Fine, whatever. Now, if you don't mind, our work here is complete. The rest of the team will take care of the corpses and this camera's tape. We are flying to Forks."

"Forks ?"

"The Cullens have come back, it appears."

"Since when do you know that ?"

He paused, apparently thinking about it. "Six days."

"And you tell me _now_ ?"

"You weren't ready to go back."

"I _had_ to go back !" Lynne was infuriated. What could the Cullens have done to her town in her absence ? She shivered. If something had happened to Joan while she was away, she'd never be able to forgive herself. Or talk to Hugo.

"If anything happened — and I haven't been informed of anything happening — you couldn't have helped it if you had gone to Forks earlier."

They reached the outside of the club — the street was empty and silent, contrasting with the chaos inside. Lynne shook her head. "Whatever. Neither of us will change our mind. Goodbye, Lux."

"I'm afraid you misunderstood me. _We_ are flying to…" His sentence ended in a gargling sound, as a hand emerged through Lux's ribcage.

"No you're not." A voice came from behind Lux. _I __know __that __voice_, Lynne thought. John ? No… younger. Then, Lux's corpse fell to the ground, and Lynne saw his murderer. It was the boy, the vampire who had attacked her in her room.

"You ? That's impossible, I killed you ! I pierced you heart… even Lux said you were dead !"

The boy smirked. "Well, I'm good at playing dead. Plus, the bed wasn't real wood." He shook his head. "Anyway. Glad we meet again, Lynne — I may call you Lynne, right ?" He didn't wait for an answer. "I kinda rushed it last time. I'm Logan Stark. I think you know my twin brother, John." Noticing Lynne didn't say anything, he kept talking. "See, when we were teenagers, we were invited to a party like this one, and… met… Mr Seymour. Seymour's right-hand man, a man who called himself Fang, asked his boss to spare us. I guess you could say he had fallen in love with us." He smirked. "He definitely lusted after us, anyway. Seymour agreed not to kill us if we agreed to be turned into vampires. I agreed, John didn't, but he managed to escape somehow. I spent the years since then with Fang. I think you know him ? You friend Lux killed him last time we met. I have to say… I kinda liked Fang, so I'm not too happy with that. Well, I got my revenge now."

He stopped talking. After a moment, Lynne understood he expected her to say something. "Why are you telling me all this ?"

"I'm giving you a choice, Lynne. Let me turn you in a vampire and I won't kill you. With Seymour dead, I'm the highest ranking vampire in Columbia. You could use my help. And I told you ; I take every opportunity to break what my brother likes. Deal ?"

"Maybe. How does it work ?"

"You drink my blood. Then I kill you. You'll be revived immediately, then you'll have to feed on someone to end the process."

"Fine." Her left hand seized an item hidden in her sleeve. "Come on."

The boy smirked as he came close to her. As soon as he was in her arms' reach, Lynne pulled the hidden stake and plunged it into his heart. Logan shuddered at the shock, and gazed in Lynne's eyes, his face full of incredulity and incomprehension.

"If you're the highest ranking vampire left here," Lynne said, "then this city should be safe now." Time for her to go home.

* * *

><p>"They're still on our tracks, aren't they ?" James asked the boy — <em>Jacob<em>, he had to treat him well, and that started by calling him Jacob.

"Yeah. I can sense them coming our way. You knew you couldn't outrace them with _vans_, didn't you ?"

James had expected Parere to tell them to let Jacob go when they joined her in Seattle, but she'd wanted to keep him along. Jacob didn't look particularly upset by being a prisoner. He had tried to escape, the first night after Seattle, when Parere had ordered him to be freed from the bonds that kept him from moving ; but the leader of the Unit had demonstrated a witch didn't need to restrain someone physically to keep him prisoner, and Jacob had learned the lesson.

Actually, Parere seemed to have grown fond of Jacob — they spent a lot of time talking, in the back of the van James drove or wherever they stayed for the night. What they were talking about, even James couldn't hear — he suspected Parere to have another tool or spell specifically to prevent eavesdropping.

Other than that, the days were pretty uneventful ; they drove, camped or got some rooms at a motel, and so on. Parere had told them where to go ; a small house in Canada, not far north of the US border. Yet, they didn't go there at once, first going further north, then east, then finally back towards the south and west until they reached the cottage.

And now Jacob told James they were still on their tracks. They'd actually discovered this ability by chance ; one night, Jacob had woken up, feeling a pain in his heart. After a moment with Arbiter and Parere, they'd discovered Jacob had imprinted on a girl, some Jenny, creating a bond between them. The Cullens had apparently brought that girl with them on their hunt. Practical as it was, it was also a problem — there might be a human to deal with when they would have to fight the Cullens.

James got up and went to talk to Parere. "They're still on our tracks. What now, Mrs Boss ?"

She grimaced. "We could run some more, but I guess they would catch up sooner or later. Here, at least, we have the advantage. Nevertheless, this is a battle we cannot win."

"Why not ? We could kill them."

"I don't want to kill them, that's the problem. I want them alive, and I'm not sure that's possible. We'll have to force them to let us go."

"And how do you plan to do that ?"

"Release Jacob."

"What was the point of running for a week if you release him in the end."

She smiled. "Watch and learn, James." She walked to Jacob and sat on his bed, next to him. "Jacob. I have spent the best of the past week telling you all I know of the Cullens and all we're fighting for. It's time for me to ask… what do you think ?"

"You have something to ask of me." Jacob looked as jaded as James at this moment.

"Yeah. Answer and I'll tell you what it is."

"Well… you tell me the Cullens aren't the nice guys they pretend to be. Fine. I can picture that. I never really liked them, I told you. I'm only helping them 'cause of Jenny and Joan, anyway."

"Wouldn't you want to see them out of your life ?"

Jacob nodded. "Yeah. But you want to kill them. In the end, at least. I'm not sure this is really a good thing either."

Parere nodded solemnly. "So what do you say we do instead ?"

"I know it's the only way to get rid of such monsters. I'd gladly help you do it if it wasn't for the girls."

"That's what I wanted to hear."

Jacob frowned. "What, that I won't help you as long as the girls are there ? If you think you can kill them to get my help, you're crazier than you look."

"No. I want you to be my eyes and ears in Forks. I want you to help me sever the bonds those girls you like have with the Cullens. I want you to become an agent of the Unit."

James gasped. _That_ was unexpected. Jacob actually looked as surprised as James. "You want me to become an agent ?" Parere nodded but said nothing. "And what should I do ?"

"What I just said. Find a way to get the girls away from the Cullens. When that is done, as you said, you'll have no trouble helping me take them down, and that's what I'll have you do. Do we have a deal ?"

Jacob looked Parere straight in the eyes. "What if I say no ?"

"I'll erase your memories of the past week and do the same thing, only without your help. It will be harder, but I'll do it anyway."

Jacob nodded. "Fine. Deal."


	16. Chapter 15 — Risque

"They're here." Jacob announced. He seemed to have gained confidence since he'd become a member of the Unit the previous night. Well, technically, it was still the same night — dawn hadn't come yet. "So what's the plan ?"

Parere looked out the window. James realized she wasn't as calm as she appeared ; he could smell her anxiety, for the first time in twelve years. "We put on a fake fight, retreat, give you back. Surely you remembered that."

"I meant _after_ I'm back in Forks."

"Do what needs to be done to gain the girls' trust. The Cullens' as well. Join their religion, Joan particularly seems very attached to that. Also try to seduce Joan. She's the central piece."

"I'm not going to cheat on Jenny !"

"Good, I don't want you to do that. Sex is easy," Jacob made a weird face at that, James noticed. Well, he _was_ fifteen, after all. "I want you to get her away from Edward. That would be much harder."

He frowned, but nodded. "Then what ?"

"Let us know. Oh, one last thing. If you need help, go to Emmet. He's on our side, too." Parere didn't wait for his reaction, and turned to James. "Ready ?"

The vampire nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

She turned her mic on. "Team ? Get ready. Remember that you _can_ kill the blonde ones. They don't matter."

It took mere seconds for James to get out of the house, but hell had already broken loose there. The canons only shot one bomb each ; afterwards, the vampire were already hand-to-hand with the agents. James tried to find either of the low-ranking vampires — he _really_ wanted to kill a Cullen this time. Quickly, he spotted Rosalie and immediately jumped on her. The blonde vampire reacted just in time to turn her back to another Unit agent, who fired a stake at her. He missed the heart, but she staggered anyway.

James took a bite at her neck, and felt her _honor_ flowing into him. Moments later, she was as dry as he could get her, and he planted an incendiary bomb in her pocket. He ran away and detonated the bomb, which resulted in a very satisfying sound behind him. As he looked around, James saw other flames around the battlefield. _Did__ the __others __kill __more __of __the __Cullens __?_ Then, as he looked towards the woods, he saw more fires coming from there. _Impossible_.

"Parere. Look in the woods. I need your expertise here."

After a second, a response came to his ears. "Yup. There's a witch there."

"Copy that. I'll take care of her. I could use some backup." As he saw two agents coming behind him, he carefully came close to the woods. He was already in the middle of the trees, when Parere's voice rang in the headset once more. "James, come back ! Now !" He turned in time to see Edward Cullen jumping at him and pinning him to the ground.

"Oh, hi James. Didn't expect to see you here. Oh, well, good. At least this way I can have an excuse for killing you. Mom, if you please ?"

James heard footsteps behind him, followed by Esme's voice. "With pleasure, dear." James saw a slim hand waving above his face, heard a _swoosh_, felt pain, then nothing.

* * *

><p>Jenny was about to lose patience. The Cullens had forced her to remain with Esme and Joan away from the battle, to "watch over Joan". Then Esme had left too, pretending she wanted to keep an eye on the battlefield, and Jenny had ended up alone with a terrified Joan. Soon after Esme left, Jenny had heard explosions coming from the battle. Still, she did not dare go and see for herself — the vest she wore wouldn't protect her against fire. But it was a long time now, and still no news. <em>They<em>_ have__ no __right __to__ keep __me __away __of __the __battle __like __that_.

Finally, she snapped. "Stay here, Joan. I'll see what's going on." She didn't even bother to listen to Joan's answer — something that was vaguely a yes and mostly a squeak.

As she was walking through the woods, sword in hand, she heard voices coming from somewhere close. As she got close, she glimpsed Edward and Esme talking to man blonde man on the ground, whom she recognized as James, the vampire who'd attacked them in the cafeteria. _So __he _was _behind __all __this_.

Suddenly, Esme waved her hand, and fire erupted from it, reducing the trapped vampire to ashes. Jenny jumped at this and backpedaled to make sure she disappeared in the woods. _If __I'm __lucky __they __won't __have __heard __me_. Why had they killed a vampire at their mercy ? Sure, he was their enemy, but he was no longer a threat, was he ? This wasn't really what they were supposed to do as so-called Christian vampires. And _how_ did Esme do that anyway ?

Finally, she heard both vampires going away, and made her way to the battlefield herself. As soon as she emerged from the wood, a man spotted her tried to seize her — for some reason, though, he didn't use his gun. Sword in hand, Jenny had no trouble keeping him away. Still, she was unsure what to do — she didn't exactly want to kill a man. She decided to slash his legs, making him drop on his knees, then hit the man with her sword's hilt, knocking him out.

As the man fell to the ground, Jenny ran to the cottage. On her way, she noticed Esme producing more fire out of her hands to kill her enemies, but had no time to think about it. Jenny found the front door demolished, and made her way inside. She heard voices, and followed them to a room upstairs. As she climbed up the stairs, the voices went quiet — whoever was there had heard her. She readied herself and opened the only door.

As she entered the room, she saw a figure jumping out the window, in a flash of silver. Most importantly, the only person left standing there was Emmet, who was kneeling beside an inanimate body. Jenny ran up to them when she recognized who that was.

"Jacob ! Is he okay ?"

Emmet nodded. "He's fine. They knocked him out with something, but he's fine. When they realized they were overthrown, the few last of them ran away and left him for us."

Jenny nodded and sheathed her sword. "You okay, Emmet ?"

He nodded. "I'm fine. We saved him. What more to ask for ?" She realized how jealous he sounded, and felt sorry for him.

"Thank you, Emmet." He looked at her, seemingly surprised. "Thank you for all you've done this week. I… I would have understood if you hadn't wanted to help him. Hell, your own brother didn't want to, so you could just have supported Edward ! But you didn't. You've helped me all the way through, you even carried me… And I'm very grateful for all of it." She kissed him lightly on the cheek.

He looked at her, not even trying to hide his disappointment. "If you're happy, I guess I'm okay with it. But…"

"I know." _He __still __loves __me, __and __I'm__ unsure __of __my __own __feelings__ for __him_. For once she almost envied Joan's _true __love_. Then she remembered who Edward was. She was about to ask Emmet about what she'd seen in the woods, but he spoke first.

"Come on, we should get out. The others will want to know we won." He carried Jacob in his arms and made his way out, and Jenny quickly followed him. When they left the house, they bumped into Alice.

"How's everyone ?" Jenny asked.

The girl's face darkened. "Rosalie's dead. Jasper blames himself — says it's his fault, that he should have covered her back. I'm wounded, but nothing a vampire can't heal. The rest of us are fine."

"I'm sorry about your sister." Alice nodded and left. Jenny turned to face Emmet. "I really am." She hugged him.

"Thanks, Jenny. I'll be okay."

"Jenny ?" Edward came from behind. "What are you doing here ? Where's Joan ?" Emmet immediately placed himself before Jenny, as if to protect her. _So __I'm__ not__ the__ only __one__ who __thinks __he's__ a __psycho.__ Yay_.

"Relax, _Ward_," she said, "Joan's in the woods where you left us."

He looked panicked, and after a second or so, ran into the woods. That sight looked oddly familiar to Jenny — had she seen him do that before, run in the woods ? She dismissed the thought — she had to take care of Jacob. And deal with Emmet, too. However, Emmet spoke before she could say anything.

"Y'know, Jenny, I understand if you want to take care of him for a while."

She blinked. "What ?"

"I mean, you almost lost him and all. I guess I can wait some more before we figure this out. It's been, what, two weeks since I died and came back ? I guess I can wait before we figure out what you want to do with us."

She didn't know what to say, so she went the easy way. "Thank you, Emmet." In the distance, she heard Carlisle calling for the family.

"Now, care to help me carry you boyfriend ? We should be back in Forks this evening if we are organized enough."

"Of course."

* * *

><p>Hugo jumped when he heard the door opened. At first, he couldn't believe what he saw. She was there — Joan, her baby girl who had vanished.<p>

"Joan ? You're there ?"

The girl frowned. "Yeah." As if nothing had happened ! "Why ?"

"I don't know… maybe because you've been away for eleven days !" Of that he was sure ; he'd counted them. "Because I was told you'd gone to Italy !"

"Italy ? No, that was last week."

Hugo didn't even pay attention. "And last week, I heard you were back and had gone to school. But when I got home, you were nowhere to be seen ! For nine more days ! Jenny's father was the one who told me you and Jenny had gone away with the Cullens. _Lewis__ Donna_, the man who's unaware of almost everything in town ! Where the hell have you been, _again_ ?"

"It's the evil… people that wanted me and Ward and all good Christian dead ! We had to stop them ! Not that _you_ would care, of course !"

"What the hell, Joan ? There aren't any evil people who want to kill Christians ! That Edward of yours is driving you crazy ! And why were you to Italy, then ? Some other evil guys that only you could fight ?"

"No, it's the leaders of Edward's branch of Christianity ! They wanted to kill him because for them it's a sin to love me." Joan shrugged as if it was obvious. "I needed to save him, and the Pope helped me."

"Enough ! I'd rather not know if you're lying or if he actually drove you crazy." _What__ to __do,__now__?_ "As much as I hate it, Joan, you earned yourself a punishment. You're forbidden to see Edward. I'll drive you at school and back home every day. I can work from home. You are not to see him, talk to him, anything. In fact, I'm taking back your phone and computer. We'll start with two weeks, Joan. Show me you've improved and maybe — _maybe_ — I'll change my mind. Maybe let you see him for an hour here and there."

"NOOOOO !" Yes, Joan actually shouted a big, long-lasting 'no', as if anyone actually did that. "That's not fair ! Ward's a good Christian, and he's the love of my life !"

"You know what's not fair ? A normal parent would ground you for a year. Or maybe for life. I'm way too nice with you, Joan. Now go to your room."

Fortunately, she obeyed for once. Hugo wasn't sure what he would have done if she hadn't. He literally crumbled into his couch, and shoved his face in his hands. Well, on the plus side, Joan was back. On the down side… Joan was back.

* * *

><p>Lynne had been about to knock at the door when she'd heard Hugo shouting. That was not usual, for sure. Then she heard Joan scream much, louder. <em>Oh,<em>_okay_. Well, at least she was alive. But apparently, everything wasn't for the best in the Smith household.

Lynne went back to her car. Hugo wouldn't want her to interfere. Plus, she still had no idea how to tell him what had happened in Columbia. She had seen the truth of what she'd learned for herself, sure, but to convince Hugo of that… She decided to wait to tell him the truth. There were other things she could do in the meantime. Get weapons ready, for instance. And have a talk with John. What Logan had said… She had to confront him about it.

She drove away, but realized she should have talked to Hugo anyway. If only to tell him she was back. He would definitely have needed a friend.


	17. Chapter 16 — Cheating

It took Lynne half an hour to reach her office once she'd entered the police department in Forks. Everyone was just rushing to greet her, talk to her, ask how Columbia had been — she had announced she was on holiday there. Of course, she had to pretend she'd enjoyed the trip. Well, she _had_ enjoyed some parts of it — the part where she learned the truth about the Cullens, for instance. Seeing those two dead boys had also helped her confirm that Britney had been killed by a vampire.

When she finally reached the office, she asked John to come inside and talk to her.

"Do you want me to report ?" he asked as soon as the door was closed.

"Is there anything urgent you want to tell me ?" Better get rid of that first — after what Lynne had planned to say, he might be a little… distracted.

"Well, Joan had gone missing. Mayor Smith and I had discussed a course of action, but apparently she came home yesterday. Other than that…" He lowered his voice. "The Cullens are back."

Lynne nodded. "Yeah, I heard that. It's the reason I'm back. Well, sort of. My job in Columbia was done."

"Did you learn anything ?"

"Quite much, yeah. I also met a boy who claimed to be your brother. Logan. He told me and… interesting story."

John looked embarrassed. "I expected that to happen when you said you were going to Columbia. What did he tell you ?"

"A vampire story. He agreed to be turned, you didn't. I already knew of the vampires ; a friend of Parere's was waiting for me there."

"Ah. Of course."

"You knew the Cullens were vampires, didn't you ?"

"I… suspected it. But I couldn't tell you that. You wouldn't have believed me, would you ?"

Lynne had a sad smile. "I guess not. How did you manage to survive ?"

"Didn't intend to. They thought I was dead, actually. They have a room in that club of theirs where they story the bodies. I woke up there. No one was around — they wouldn't watch _corpses_ — so I could leave. After that, I started to feel a thirst in me. Took me a while to realize I thirsted for blood."

"You're not a vampire, though."

He shook his head. "No. But there was definitely something wrong. So I fought it, and then I heard of that scientist in Forks. I came here as quickly as I could. The man helped me control the bloodlust — I don't even feel it anymore. He told me I had absorbed part of the vampire's DNA, something like that. A 'hybrid', he called me."

Lynne nodded. Lux had mentioned the hybrids, although he hadn't said too much about them. "That scientist… Who is it ? Is he still in town ?" She could use the help of someone knowledgeable enough to know of hybrids.

"Yes. I'm sure you know him. His name's Lewis Donna."

* * *

><p>Jenny was just too happy. It couldn't have lasted forever.<p>

When they'd arrived home, Jacob had said he would transfer to Forks High to be with her more often. Her father had thrown somewhat of a party to celebrate her coming back, and he had bought her a new laptop, just for the sake of it. When they'd gone to school, Jacob and Jenny had met two new students, coming straight from Italy : Dan and Becca. Well, they came from Italy, but Dan and their parents were apparently from Egypt, and Becca, being adopted, was an orphan from an African American family. The four of them quickly got along quite well.

Then the Cullens and Joan came back in her life. Jenny was still scared of Edward and Esme since she'd seen them burn James. And of course there was Emmet. He said he understood that she wanted to stay with Jacob for the time being, but she knew Jacob was a bit jealous of her feelings for the vampire. Worst of all, she still couldn't choose between them. To make things worse, her new friends Becca and Dan had very quickly started dating Jasper and Alice Cullen.

And now this. It started as a seemingly innocent question from Jacob.

"Why don't you forgive Joan ?"

She had immediately frozen, completely oblivious of Mr Saltzmann talking in front of the class.

"Why would I forgive her ?"

"She's your best friend."

"She _was_. Did you forget what she did ?"

"You forgave _me_."

"It's different. You apologized."

"You know Joan won't apologize."

"That's exactly the problem with Joan."_It's__ all __about __her, __and__ too __bad __if __someone __else __gets __hurt_.

"Still, don't you miss her ?"

"You sound like you _want_ me to reconcile with her."

"You need a friend, Jenny. Not just a boyfriend, I mean. Other friends."

"I have friends." Her various sports clubs had allowed her to meet many people, and there was the Internet, of course.

"Yeah, but no one like Joan."

She snapped. "Are you trying to get me close to her so you can get seduced by her again ? Is that why you converted to her religion ?"

The teacher heard her. "Miss Donna, Mister Black, is my class _that_ uninteresting ?"

They stopped talking for maybe a minute. Then Jacob answered her question. "I _told_ you I wasn't interested in her !" He shook his head. "Listen… May I be honest with you ?"

"You _have_ _to_ be honest with me."

"Well, there's… I… um… it just matters to me. A lot."

"Why ?"

He paused for a second. "I can't tell you why, okay ? Can't you just trust me ? Please ?"

She didn't answer. However, when school was over, Jacob brought the subject back. "So ? What do you decide about Joan ?"

She sighed. "You're basically telling me that if I don't reconcile with Joan, it means I don't trust you. You realize how awful that is ?"

He looked away, embarrassed. "Sorry. Didn't mean to do that. I… I understand if you don't want to. It's just really important to me, Jenny."

Jenny giggled — she couldn't help it. "Fine. But it's better be worth it."

The boy hugged her. "Thanks, Jenny."

And that's how Jenny had been kind of compelled to be friends with Joan once more. Jenny learned that Joan had been punished and wasn't allowed to see Edward for the two weeks following their return from Canada. Naturally, as soon as those two weeks were over, Joan was invited by the Cullens to come by their house. And naturally, Joan invited her two best friends — _her __only __friends_, as Jenny put it — Becca and Jenny herself, along with Dan and Jacob, of course. Jenny felt forced to agree.

Therefore, next Monday after school, Jenny drove Becca, Dan and Jacob to the Cullens' house — Edward was driving his precious Joan by himself, because she apparently wanted to pick things at her house and warn her father. _For __once __she __warns __him. __Maybe __she's __scared __he__ might __ground __her __again __?_ That surprised Jenny. Joan usually scoffed at punishments.

When they arrived at the Cullens', Esme asked them if they had something formal to wear — they had decided to go to church for what she called a family bonding session. Jenny didn't, but Becca apparently had an extra dress, and it happened to fit Jenny quite much. Esme also allowed them to borrow some of Rosalie's accessories and shoes, saying she wouldn't need them anyway. Although she put on quite a show, Jenny wasn't convinced that Esme was saddened by the loss of her daughter.

Finally, Edward and Joan arrived. Joan boasted about how hot her outfit was — Jenny couldn't disagree more : a green skirt and a sweater shouldn't ever, _ever_ be worn at the same time. But of course, she didn't mention it.

After the boasting was over, everyone got in Carlisle's van and Carlisle drove to church, where Father James Holden was waiting. He lectured them for the best part of an hour about the values good Christian should search in people and in themselves, or something — Jenny wasn't really paying attention. She did respect the man and his religion, but had never really believed — having a scientist of a father can do that to you. Of course, Joan didn't know about that — she'd never asked Jenny what her beliefs were, for some reason. Apparently, being a good person made you Christian. Jenny _had_ read the Bible out of curiosity, but that was about it.

Suddenly, she heard the priest bless them by spraying holy water at them, and the service was over. Gratefully, she got up — _those __church__ benches__ are__ really __uncomfortable__ !_ However, the priest announced that the families present in church should now take a moment and talk to each other.

After being trapped in a conversation with Dan and Alice, then Esme, Joan and some others, Jenny finally made her way out of the church. In the park that surrounded the building, she saw two people in the dark. Curious, she walked closer, but tripped on a stone on the ground and fell. The two jumped at the noise and ran close to her — they were Jacob and Emmet.

She blinked a few times. Luckily, she'd stopped the fall with her hands. "The hell are those stones ?"

Emmet answered her. "The priest has quotes from the Bible written on them, so he can run his propaganda without even talking to you."

Jenny looked at him, surprised by how he talked of James Holden. "What were you two even doing out here ?"

Emmet shrugged. "Talking. What else ?"

She looked at Jacob, who was as inexpressive as the vampire. She frowned. What were they plotting ? She was interrupted by Becca running by to tell them they were all leaving. Jacob helped her on her feet and they got back to Carlisle's van.

* * *

><p>Joan felt like she had been granted her paradise in advance by God. After all those ordeals she'd gone through, she was back home, her father was more or less nice to her, Edward and her were back together, and she had her wonderful friends. When they got home from the bonding session at church, MC offered to make dinner. Since that would take her a while — she was making a lot of different meals — they had plenty of time, and everyone scattered across the house.<p>

Joan and Edward went to his room and started cuddling and making out on the bed. Ward took off his shirt, and Joan couldn't help but admire his perfectly sculpted chest. She felt happy he was hers. Then he undid her sweater's zipper, but Joan didn't feel alarmed ; they had been blessed, she knew Ward wouldn't do anything against their religion. However, he then tried to take off her bra, too. She hesitated. Should she let him do that too ? Wasn't it going too far ?

He must have felt her hesitation, because he paused. In her ear, he whispered "It's okay, Joan. We have been blessed." He then kissed her in the neck and undid her bra for good. Joan felt incredibly nervous ; she hadn't done anything like this before. Edward kept kissing her, following her neck to her upper chest as his hand moved down, caressing its way to her pants.

Then Joan heard the door open. "Joan, I need to tell you something." Jacob paused, startled by the sight of Joan and Edward, both half naked on the bed. He snapped. "Joan ! You're betraying God ! I don't get it, do you want to live in sin ?" Joan felt ashamed. Even Jacob, freshly converted to Christianity, was a better Christian than her ! He was right to try to stop them, no matter how _wrong_ Joan felt when Edward pushed himself away from her. She quickly got dressed again and left the room, closely followed by Jacob. He offered to drive her to church so she could confess her sin and pray for forgiveness, which she gratefully accepted.

When she entered the confessional, she heard Father James Holden's voice. "What are your sins, child ?" She started to cry, unable to hold her tears anymore. She felt so ashamed, and now Father Holden of all people would know ! Surely he wouldn't love her anymore !

"I… I almost gave in to Lust, father !" Each word was hard to say, as if something blocked her throat.

"But you stopped ?" She could see the priest looking at her through the grating that separated them. She nodded. "Then you are forgiven. You have not sinned bad enough ; you stopped in time and came to apologize. Will Edward be seeking forgiveness as well ?"

She smiled ; the father had guessed who had almost sinned with her. He was so smart ! "Yes, he will." She left the confessional, and was surprised to see Edward waiting to go in as well. She didn't know he was there ! Still, she was glad he was. It meant he would soon be forgiven too, and they could resume their lives, free of this mistake.

When they came back to the Cullens' house, MC had finished cooking, and they had a special dinner, made even better by everyone's joy when Joan told them Ward and her had renewed their purity. However, the dinner was interrupted by Joan's phone ringing.

"Joan ? It's dad. It's time for you to come home. Remember our deal ?" Of course her dad would ruin her fun.

"Okay, dad" she replied and hung up. She told Ward she had to go — and Jenny immediately offered to drive her home. Joan first went to Edward's room to pick her stuff. He kissed her, and they lay on the bed for a long time.

When Joan finally reached her home, she entered it, but found it empty, with all the lights turned off. She guessed her dad had gone to sleep — he would work early tomorrow, go visit a construction site or something. When she reached the living room, however, she froze in place. James and Victoria were waiting for her !

"No !" Joan woke up screaming. Well, it felt like a scream, but half-asleep as she was, it actually came out as a whisper.

"What's wrong, my love ?" Ward was there. She was on his bed. In his room.

"James and Victoria are at my house !" Joan said. "They have my dad and will eat me !"

Edward chuckled. "No, they're not. They're dead, they won't hurt you anymore. You were just having a nightmare."

_He's __right. __I__ saw __Victoria __die __in__ the __Cullens' __house_. She didn't know about James, but she believed Edward. He had probably died during the battle in Canada. "Why am I here ?" she asked.

"Your dad called, but then you fell asleep here. I couldn't wake you up to tell you to go ; it was beyond me."

Joan giggled, feeling stupid. Then she remembered. "My dad ! He'll be mad at me ! I've got to go home !" It was already morning !

Edward drove her home, but she went alone ; since her father apparently didn't like Edward, she preferred not to have the two meeting. When she entered, Joan's father was waiting for her on the couch in the living room. He looked angry, once more. Joan felt anxious.

"Where were you last night ?"

"At my boyfriend's. Edward Cullen, remember ?"

"And what was our arrangement ?"

She lowered her eyes. "That we wouldn't see for more than a few hours."

"And didn't I call on your phone to remind you of this ?"

"Yeah."

"So… why is it that you only come home now?"

She had thought of a valid lie. That Jenny had promised to drive her, but was drunk, something like that, and they had been responsible and decided to stay there instead. But with how mean her father was, Joan snapped. "'Cause you're always drunk anyway, so I figured you wouldn't realize !" Why would she respect him ? He wasn't even Christian, anyway !

"What ? What did you say ?" Joan backpedaled ; he was really mad now. She knew her father had had a drinking problem when she was young — though he hadn't done anything wrong to her then — and he felt bad about it. Didn't matter — she was sick of him.

"Yeah ! You're a mean old drunk, and I hate you ! I wish mom was here and she could take me away forever !"

Her father glared at her for what seemed like an eternity. "Fine. You won. Our deal's over ; you're grounded. Now go to your room."

"But… I gotta go to school !"

"You're not going to school where you'll see to Edward ! Until I figured out a solution, you're just not going to school ! Don't pretend you care, anyway. Now go. To. Your room."

Shivering, Joan obeyed. She had never seen her dad getting really angry. Sure, he had yelled at her several times in the past few weeks — even slapped her ! — but he had never been infuriated like that — a cold, freezing fury.

In her room, she sat down, and realized her make-up was completely messed up. She reapplied it, and felt better now that she was sexah again. Suddenly, she heard the doorbell ring, and two people walking up the stairs. Then Jacob opened the door. Joan guessed the other person was her father.

"Can I come in ?"

Joan nodded. He came and sat on her bed. She caught herself admiring his nice features. And his smile ; Jacob always smiled. Still, he wasn't _Ward_.

"What's going on ?" he asked.

"Oh, it's my dad. He's mean to me, as usual. He doesn't even know what it is to be a good Christian, he's just an alcoholic."

Jacob grimaced. She guessed he understood. He hugged her. "It'll be okay," he said, "I love you." Then he left the room, leaving Joan gaping at the closed door. What ? He had said he wasn't into her, now he said he loved her ? Of course, she knew he hadn't meant it last time. Still… She wanted to be with Ward. She loved him more than anything. Except God, maybe. In the end, tired and confused, she lay in her bed and fell asleep.

* * *

><p>When they reached the car, Jenny couldn't hold herself anymore. "May I know why you brought me there and forced me to eavesdrop to your telling Joan you love her ?"<p>

Jacob's smile didn't fade. "I wanted you to be sure nothing happened this time. I didn't want anything to happen."

"Then why tell her you love her ?"

"Would you believe me if I tell you it's part of a plan, and I can't tell you more ?"

Jenny raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. Does it have anything to do with the fact you and Emmet are suddenly good buddies ?"

She hadn't thought that possible, but Jacob's smile broadened. "Maybe."

Jenny nodded. "You better not disappoint me, Jacob. You forced me to reconcile with Joan, now you try to seduce her. Fine. But if you make one misstep, I'll be very mad at you. And you don't want to see me mad."

"I won't. I promise."


	18. Chapter 17 — Reminiscence

Lynne was surprised to see Parere when she opened the door. After two weeks without any new from the woman, she'd almost believed she had forgotten about her.

"What happened ? I thought you'd come to me as soon as I'll be back here in Forks."

"We had… complications." Lynne wanted to ask what kind, but guessed the other woman wouldn't answer. "I heard various reports from Columbia. Maybe you'd care to give me your version ?"

"I met your Agent Lux. He helped me figure out all kinds of things about the Cullens, and taught me much more."

"I expected that. What else ?"

"You don't know ? He stormed a club and killed Hadrian Seymour." The woman nodded — obviously she knew who that was. "Things got complicated when we left the place. A vampire we thought was dead got Lux in the back. I managed to kill him, but Lux was already dead. Then I hurried back to Forks — Lux had told me the Cullens were back."

Parere nodded. "So that's how he's dead. Some were thinking it was your doing."

"You don't have very good coroners, then. He died by a hand going through his chest. I'm not able to do that."

"I never said I agreed with them." Parere sat down. "The Cullens prove to be more trouble than we thought. Much more trouble than Seymour, definitely. That's why I couldn't come earlier. I had to make up for the losses. I'm going to need your help, Lynne."

Lynne nodded. She had expected it. "I can do that. I already have a friend I'm working with."

"The mayor Smith knows about this ?"

"No. Though Hugo would help us if he knew. But I meant a colleague of mine, John Stark. He had trouble with Seymour in the past, so he knows of all this vampire business."

"Good. Any ally's a good thing, I guess."

"Is your Unit that much in trouble ?"

"No. But I can't afford to move any agent here."

Lynne was amazed by this. "Not even for the Cullens ? I thought they were the most powerful clan around."

Parere nodded. "They are. But Seymour's death caused vampire all around the world to go crazy. They feel threatened, and a threatened beast is the worst enemy."

That helped Lynne understand. "Seymour wasn't supposed to die."

"He was, just not that way. He should have been judged, sentenced. When he'd have been out of the game, _then_ we'd have taken him out." Parere shook her head. "Lux was the most qualified for the mission, but I should have known he would want revenge on Seymour. I was too distracted with the Cullens to see that."

"So what ? We're alone against the Cullens ?"

"Sort of. There's you and I, that John of yours. Three of my agents are still around. I also have two men infiltrated close to the coven — you'll understand I won't tell you who they are." Lynne nodded. "And I could get one agent to come. I'll have him contact you."

"That's not going to be enough."

Parere smiled. "Maybe. Maybe not. If we're lucky, I'll be able to make more agents come here before it's over. But there are several things I didn't know about the Cullen coven before. Now I do. I have plans. I'll tell you if they succeed. Now, if you don't mind, I have to go. See you soon, Lynne."

* * *

><p>The rest of the week had been monotonous for Joan. Sure, her friends had come by, but Becca and Jenny couldn't really make up for not seeing Ward. Joan was sure she was falling in a depression ; she felt more empty inside with every passing minute.<p>

Then Sunday night came. She was half-asleep when she hard something hitting her window. She got up and went to see what it was — Ward was there. She immediately opened the window.

"Hey, Joan. What happened ? I didn't see you at school, or at the youth group today." He was obviously worried.

She grimaced. "My mean old father grounded me. I'm not to leave the house for now." Ward wrapped his arms around her. She buried her face in his perfect chest, and couldn't help but cry.

"It'll be okay. Everyone at youth group was asking about you. They were worried something bad had happened to you."

She wiped the tears from the face as she looked up to gaze in Edward's beautiful eyes. "I'll try to go next week. My father doesn't know that you go there ; maybe he'll let me go."

"So it's my fault you're grounded ?"

"Sort of. He thinks you have a bad influence or me, or something. Ridiculous. He just doesn't get me."

He nodded. "I'll protect you, Joan."

She nodded. "Could you stay with me tonight ? I'm tired of being alone." He agreed at once. She quickly fell asleep, in peace for once.

* * *

><p>When Hugo woke up that morning, he couldn't help feel angry at the situation. Despite a week's worth of efforts, he hadn't been able to find a school where Joan could transfer. He had decided to let her go back to Forks High. He couldn't screw her daughter's education just because her boyfriend was a potential murderer. <em>Or<em>_could__I__?_

He went upstairs to wake Joan up and tell him of his decision. The door was locked from the inside, so Hugo knocked on the door. Since his daughter didn't answer, he went to get the double of the room's key. When he entered, he saw one more figure in the bed that there should be.

"Who's that boy in you bed ?" He was talking in a very calm manner, but Joan covered her ears as if he'd yelled at her.

Said boy emerged from the sheets, and Hugo recognized him as Edward Cullen. _Yeah,__of__course_. Hugo didn't even bother to wonder _how_ he'd got there in the first place. However, the young man told him anyway.

"It's my fault, I sneaked into the room by the window because I love her !" He was standing between Joan and Hugo, as if to defend her from her dad. _As __if _I_ was __the __one __who __would __hurt __her_. "I'm Joan's boyfriend, Edward Cullen. I apologize we haven't met yet." After a second, he added, "I can assure you we were sensible the whole time." _That __wasn't __really __what __worried __me__ the __most_. How ironic.

"You get out of my house before I call the police." Hugo was still talking very calmly. He didn't even know how he did it ; he wasn't even really angry. The boy rushed out of the room, and Hugo heard her run down the stairs and leave the house. _What __to __do __with __Joan,__now__?_ Hugo finally decided to not change his plans. "You go to school. Now." The girl looked surprised for a second, then got out of her bed and started to get ready. "And it doesn't mean you're not grounded anymore. I'll have my secretary pick you up as soon as school's over, and you are not to leave home for anything but school." Soon enough, Joan was ready and he drove her to school. When he saw her enter the building, he finally left.

Suddenly, all this trouble with Edward reminded him of Lynne. They had barely talked together since she'd been back from Columbia. Could it be she had found something ? No, she'd have told him. Hugo drove away. _All__ this __had __to __happen__ when __I __have __to __leave __town __for __the __night, __of __course_.

* * *

><p>When Brian arrived in the cafeteria in Forks High, memories flooded his mind. The place hadn't changed a bit since he left. Dismissing his thoughts, he looked around, and sure enough, spotted his targets. The Cullen coven ; he'd heard of them while working with the Unit, and what he'd heard was enough to make him weary. Still, the leader of the Unit herself had called ; he had no choice but to obey.<p>

Among the Unit, Brian was the Agent Ardere, specialist with incendiaries. He was also a hybrid, just like many other agents. Since he'd been turned very young, he still appeared in his late teens — which allowed him to infiltrate the high school for a first contact.

He reached the table where the coven sat. "Hi, I'm Aaron," — the fake name came almost automatically — "and I'm new here. Mind if I sit with you ?"

One girl — a human, as her green eyes attested — answered. "Are you a Christian too ?" She pointed to the cross pendant she wore. He also noticed a cross-shaped hair clip. How a devout Christian could hang out with a vampire was beyond Brian.

"Sure." His eyes drifted from the accessory to her hair — brown and fluffy.

"I'm Joan St Sanctuary Louisa Smith, and this is my Christian boyfriend, Edward Cullen." Brian said hi, half-heartedly. _Smith. __Joan __Smith. __Impossible_. She was the Cullens' pet ? _She_ of all people ? And yet, as she introduced the other Cullens, as well as her friends, he noticed it was probably true. Brian had last seen Joan when she was a toddler — maybe two or three years old — and he could still see the resemblance.

He must have stared at Joan more than he realized, because soon enough she was sitting next to him, giggling and winking like a… well, like a teenager infatuated with a new guy who looks good. Behind her, he saw Edward staring at him, unable to hide the jealousy in his eyes. Brian felt happy to have had a shot of vervain — he knew the vampire was a mind reader.

Soon enough they had to go to class. Brian's boss had it arranged that he would have classes in common with Joan and Edward in the morning, to keep an eye on them, then nothing in the afternoon to let him move on with his mission. During class, he heard Edward in a distance say to Joan he didn't trust Brian. _Well, __he __knows __I'm __hiding __something__ — __no __one __uses __vervain __by __chance_. But Joan shunned her boyfriend's concerns, giggling.

At lunch, he spent more time with them, serving them his made up background story — he and his parents had lived in Canada for a long time, but they were dead, so he had moved here, with an uncle who had left on vacation. As soon as Brian looked busy talking to a girl named Becca, Edward whispered to Joan that he didn't believe Brian, and that he'd prove it. _Good __thing __I __don't__ have __to __keep __this __masquerade __for __too __long_.

Finally, lunch time was over and he parted ways with them. However, one of the girls — a blonde named Jenny — followed him outside the school. "Hey, Brian ! You're leaving ?"

"I… don't have anything on my schedule, so yes."

"Me neither. You mind if we go home together ?"

Brian hesitated. He didn't want to be suspicious, but he would only have so much time for his assignment. "Not at all." Hopefully, he wouldn't waste too much time.

As they were walking, the Jenny girl kept talking to him. "So, what do you think of Joan ?"

_Is__ this __a__ trap __?_ "She's… nice, I guess. Pretty, too, although her make-up's insane. She reminds me of someone I knew." _Fluffy __brown__ hair__… __Are __they __as __soft __to __the __touch__ ?_

"Don't get all over yourself. She may try to seduce you, but in the end she's all Edward's." She sighed. "And you don't want to get on Edward's bad side."

Brian _did_ frown, this time. "What do you mean ?"

She placed her hand on his shoulder. "You _don't_ want to know. Just stay away from those two." What did the girl know ? She probably was aware they were vampires — they wouldn't let someone hang around them if they weren't deemed worthy of their secret. It was probably something else, though. He would have loved to know, but she wouldn't say anything to Aaron, the new guy. _Or__ to __Brian, __the __Unit __Agent_.

They finally reached Jenny's house, where she left him alone. He kept walking as if going to his house — just in case — then, after taking a few turns, finally changed his way towards his target — Joan's house. Namely, _his_ house, too.

Getting inside was easy. He knew the house was empty — Joan had mentioned her father was away — so he introduced a key in the lock. That key was a tool made by the Unit, and it immediately adapted itself to the lock. He turned the key, and the door opened without any trouble.

Immediately, he started searching — with gloves on, of course — for any evidence of what the girl knew. He started by searching the rooms upstairs — one was obviously the girl's room, what with the flashy decoration and pictures of Edward Cullen and Joan all over the walls, and another was probably the parents', neat, well arranged, but… lacking personality. In neither did he find something — not even when he found the girl's computer in the parents' room. She apparently didn't keep a diary or anything similar. _Well, __I __won't __find __any __information __here_. It was time to move on to the next part of his mission. He planted incendiaries and went downstairs, to search more.

That's when what had thus far only been a doubt became certainty. The place wore _his_ mark ; simply decorated, with a few items and pictures here and there evoking boats and fishing. And it all was confirmed by the pictures on the mantle.

_Hugo_. This was Hugo's house, Hugo's daughter. Hugo's life. He even found a picture of when they had graduated, and found his own face smiling back at him — but that was the _chaste_ picture, not the other one they'd taken while he kissed Hugo. Funnily enough, he had barely aged physically since that time, so it was as if the same boy had somehow traveled through time and now contemplated the remains of his existence. Ironically, it was almost the case — Brian Hahnel had more or less ceased to exist when Agent Ardere had been born. On the mantle, next to the pictures, was a ship in a bottle. Their ship — he had named it _Ours_, after all. The name was still written, in faded eyeliner, on the bottle itself.

_The__ fuck __am__ I __doing_. He had a mission to take care of. Nothing else at this floor about the Cullens — he guessed Joan wasn't the kind of girl to write in the first place. Finally, he forced himself to plant his incendiaries.

His orders had been clear. _Search __for __intelligence __in __the __girl's __house,__then__ burn __the __rest __down_. It wasn't his place to question why — though he could guess. Of course, it would help erase evidence of Brian's passage and of Joan's knowing about the vampires, if there were any. Then… what ? Brian couldn't be too sure. He didn't like it. He might be a trained agent, but they were using him as a pawn right now, something that had never happened before. Then again, it was the Cullens they were speaking of. Maybe they didn't want a single agent to know of the whole plan in case the Cullens would get him to talk.

Brian felt uncomfortable with burning Hugo's belonging, but he forced himself to put everything in place. Business was business ; he'd done this before, without questioning. It wasn't his right to start second-guessing. He was about to leave, when the ship in the bottle caught his eye again. _He __kept __it __all __this __time_. All this time Brian had thought Hugo hated him, he had kept this with him. Could he really just burn it _all_ ?

* * *

><p>When Joan had finished school, Brian was waiting for her outside. "Hey, Joan," he said, "can I ask you something ?"<p>

She fluttered her eyelids, having a twisted smile — Brian guessed she thought it was seductive. "Yes ! Of course, Aaron." In the distance, Brian saw Edward glaring at him.

"You mind if I come by your house so you can help my catch up with schoolwork ?"

She looked surprised by this. "Oh, yeah. School ! Sure, you can come ! Dad's secretary will pick me up, I'll tell her to drive us both home !"

"Fine with me." _Please,__ let __the __vampire __not __get __jealous __too __soon_. He didn't mind fighting a vampire, but the rest of the coven might join, and he couldn't just fight them all.

Luckily, Edward didn't go all clingy this time. Maybe he knew better than to do that in front of a whole school. Brian followed Joan to a car, and sat in the back. Once introduced — as Aaron — to the mayor's assistant, a woman named Mrs Whitcombe, she drove them both to Hugo's house.

_Time __to __put __the __plan __in __action_. As he was leaving the car he pulled his cellphone and started dialing something. When they were a few steps away from the door, he pressed the final key — and there was a loud _swoosh_ as the whole house vanished in a fireball. It wasn't really an explosion, and they were barely pushed back by it, but it was much more efficient to make sure everything was destroyed. He knew it — he'd engineered the incendiaries himself.

Joan started to call for help, as did Mrs Whitcombe from the car. By the time any of them had recovered from the shock, Brian had vanished in the trees nearby. When he knew he was out of sight, he pulled the ship in the bottle out of his backpack and watched it. _Ours_, the bottle read. He couldn't burn _that_ — he couldn't.


	19. Chapter 18 — Secrets

When the house burst in flame in front of Joan, she first stared at it, unable to believe what had happened. Then she finally realized she'd need help.

_Dad__…_ But no, her father had left town for his job ; he wouldn't be back until tomorrow. She turned back to see Mrs Whitcombe in the car, talking on her phone. Calling her dad or the fire fighters ? Joan looked around her to find Aaron, but the boy was nowhere to be found. Joan couldn't help it ; she screamed. For help, out of fear and pain at seeing all her belongings vanish.

Soon afterwards, the firemen arrived. But they couldn't do anything ; it was as if this fire was made of the same evil that had threatened Joan so often lately. The lances could put the fire out in one place, but as soon as the fire fighters aimed it at something else, the previous spot burst in flames again.

It didn't take long for Edward to come for her. As soon as she saw him, she ran in his arms.

"Don't worry, Joan." He said. "You're safe. It's all that matters to me." He was looking at the house, and the firelight played in his eyes in a burst of golden colors. Seeing that beauty made Joan feel better about herself ; she'd be fine as long as Ward, her angel, would watch over her.

Soon, he pulled her gently towards his car. "Come on, we'll go at my house. You shouldn't stay here."

When they arrived, the whole family was there. Joan told them about the fire. When she was done, MC asked if she would like them to rebuild the house.

"Is that… possible ?" Joan asked, tears in her eyes.

The woman smiled. "Nothing's impossible if you have a vampire's strength and God by your side. Let's call Father James Holden. Maybe there will even be a miracle !" She took Joan by the hand. "Come on, I'll go with you to church, and the others will wait for us at your house." She led her to her car and drove to church, where Joan told the story to Father James Holden. He immediately agreed to come with them and ask for God's help in this torment.

When they reached Joan's house, it was nothing but ashes. The fire fighters had gone away — there was nothing they could do. Actually, everyone had gone away ; the whole street was eerily empty.

MC walked towards the house. She didn't say anything, looking around for a while, then Carlisle talked. "Emmet, Jasper, help me rebuild the house. Edward, I know you swore not to read Joan's mind…" he had ? Joan didn't know of that. "But could you find her memories of the decoration, something like that ? Anything that may help. You and Alice'll work on recreating it as faithfully as you can. Esme, dear…"

"I'll pray for God's help." And she did — she knelt there and started praying. Soon enough, Father James Holden joined her. Joan could barely see Emmet and Jasper's movements ; they were using their unnatural speed at its best.

Joan interrupted MC, grabbing her by the arm. "Should they really show themselves ? I mean, Father James Holden can be trusted, but…"

She giggled, and whispered to Joan. "You know, I also have my powers. Father Holden doesn't see the same thing we do, Joan sweetie." She then went back to praying, leaving Joan gaping.

Edward took her hand, and asked her permission to read her mind. She nodded, and then, felt Edward's presence inside her. She closed her eyes and images of her house started flashing all around her. She could remember most of it — but not her dad's room. She vaguely heard Edward and Alice talking, too, but couldn't make out their words.

When she opened her eyes, night had fallen — she hadn't even realized time had passed ! — and her house was already in a good shape. Suddenly, she felt exhausted and dizzy, and lost balance. Edward grabbed her in time, and whispered in her ear.

"You've done enough. We'll be able to restore it in its previous shape by the morning. You should come sleep at my house." She nodded, and he carried her straight to his house. As soon as she felt the mattress under her skin, Joan fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Jenny was still worried about that Aaron guy. Joan was obviously interested in the new boy ; and with what Jenny knew of Edward and Joan, that might mean something bad for Aaron. Jenny wouldn't put it past the vampire to actually kill any competition he might have for Joan's love.<p>

She was interrupted in her thoughts when Jacob came by her home. After greeting him, she noticed he looked worried.

"What's going on ?" she asked.

"You didn't hear ?" she shook her head. "Joan's house is burning !"

"What ? How ? What happened ?"

"I don't know. I just heard about it."

"Is she okay ?" Jenny knew Joan's dad wasn't here, but by know, Joan should have come from school already. Jacob nodded. "Do you think we should go ?"

"I don't know. Probably not ; the Cullens are already there, from what I heard."

_Yeah,__ of __course__ they're __there_. Jenny didn't really want to get anywhere close to the Cullens if she could avoid it, and she knew very well Joan would probably only pay attention to Edward. Oh, and she still resented Joan, after all. She was not about to forget _that_. "You're right. Let's just stay here ; if she needs us, she'll call."

At around midnight, while they were in Jenny's room, Jacob asked her something. "Jenny… Do you still love Emmet ?"

She frowned. Was it really time to think about this ? "Why the sudden question ?"

"You don't answer ?"

She thought about it for a second. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. I just… I don't care. I mean, I have you, it's much more than enough for me. Why ? Some other part of your _plan_ ?" she said, almost mockingly.

Jacob didn't take notice ; he grabbed her hand, smiling, and led her downstairs. "Sort of." He opened the front door — and there stood Emmet.

"Emmet ? Is everything okay with Joan ?"

He nodded, sighing. Jenny realized he looked exhausted. "Yeah. We had to rebuild her house. Crazy work." He took time to catch his breath. "Could we _not_ talk about Joan, now ? I'm getting crazy at home right now — it's all about Edward and her."

"Okay," Jenny said, "so, what's your little conspiracy ?"

Jacob laughed. "You noticed, huh ? Well, it's a long story…"

Emmet interrupted him. "Not so much."

Jacob grimaced, looking annoyed. "Let's just say Emmet and I have become good friends recently. And we realized we both loved you, and that you loved us both, and… Well, we think you can't be truly happy if you have to choose between the two of us." He looked at Emmet, looking unsure what to say.

The vampire continued. "Well, we have come to the conclusion that we have to share you."

Jenny looked at both of them, alternatively, waiting for either of them to tell her they were joking. _It__ has __to __be__ a __joke, __right __? __That, __or __a__ dream._ They didn't, and she snapped. "You've got to be kidding me. When did you get such an idea ?"

"Honestly ?" Jacob said. "Well, you told me the most romantic thing you've ever heard of was in that book, where three young women agreed to share the man they loved. That they each…"

She ended the sentence "…sacrificed their own desire to have the man for themselves, to make sure he was happy." That was in the Wheel of Time, and she _had_ mentioned it to Jacob. "But… I don't want you to make that sacrifice. Either of you."

"You're telling me that you don't think it's a good idea ? That it wouldn't make you happy ?" Emmet asked, looking skeptical.

"It's not that, it's… Ah, I don't know. You're sacrificing yourselves for me. I don't think that's a very good start in a relationship."

"We both agree with it !" Jacob said. "What's the big deal ?"

Jenny thought about it for a while. "I don't want to be _shared_." That notion felt like she was just some mindless thing they could use. She paused, then finally had an idea. "Y'know, I could okay with your plan. With a condition."

"Anything you want." They had both said that at the exact same time.

She took a deep breath. "You'll both be my boyfriends. Not sharing me or anything. I won't be involved in two relationships. If we're doing this, it's the three of us — together. All the time — or at least, most of the time." They nodded at once, not even thinking about it. "Starting now." She took both of them by the hand, and led them to her room.

* * *

><p>When Joan woke up, she realized she had to go to school. She said so to Edward.<p>

"Really, Joan ? I don't think it's an absolute necessity."

"I have to. Otherwise, my dad'll know and he'll get even more mad at me !"

Ward sighed. "Okay. I'll drive you to school. Hurry, we can still be in time." As she was getting ready, he added. "Y'know, I think this Aaron kid could be connected to the fire."

Joan laughed, but she felt a bit scared by how dark Ward suddenly sounded. "You're just saying that 'cause you're jealous, Ward."

"No, Joan, I mean it. He appears and your house burns the same day, don't you think it's suspicious ? Plus… I couldn't hear his thoughts. That's not happened to me very often."

She turned to face him. "But it _has_ happened to you before, right ?"

Reluctantly, he answered. "Yeah." He looked like he was about to add something, but didn't.

"Then it's settled. You know what, I'll talk to him today. Okay ?"

"I'd rather not."

Joan giggled. Ward cared too much for her, sometimes. "Don't worry. I'm a big girl. I can handle myself."

She met Aaron as soon as she arrived at school this morning. She had to admit, the blonde boy looked _gorgeous_. He might actually be a contender to Ward. But Ward was more _sexah_ in his behavior, Joan thought. When she walked to him, he immediately asked her about her house.

"Is everyone okay ? Was there someone inside ?"

She shook her head. "No. But, Aaron, I wondered… Why did you leave when the fire started ?"

He grimaced. "I… was scared. I couldn't think straight anymore. I'm sorry ; I should have remained by you. I'm sorry."

She giggled. "Don't be. I have a new house now."

He looked surprised by this, but who wouldn't ? Aaron didn't know about the vampires and their extreme speed and strength. He was about to say something, but his phone rang. He looked at it. "Sorry. I have to take this call. See you around, Joan."

"See you, Aaron."

* * *

><p>When Hugo came home, he felt something was odd about his house. It didn't quite have the same… familiar feel it used to have. It's only when he got upstairs to his room that he had confirmation. His room did look similar to usual, but it <em>wasn't<em> his room. The furniture were just not placed the same way — actually, the disposal was similar to how the room was years ago.

_The__ hell __is __going __on__ here __?_ He went back downstairs. On the mantle, he noticed that pictures were missing — all the pictures Joan didn't appear in, actually. Not only that, but one of the ships in a bottle. The one that he'd bought and named with _him_… He almost sobbed, sad to have lost this treasured piece of his past, but he was too worried. Someone had come in his house and… what ? Stolen pictures, a ship in a bottle, and moved his furnitures ? That made zero sense.

He jumped when the doorbell rang, startled. When he opened the door, he stood there, breathless at the ghost that was standing in front of him.

_Brian…_

It was the very same young man that had left him fourteen years ago. Blonde hair that brushed his shoulder, green eyes, lean and yet obviously muscular. There were some changes to him — his eyes looked older, and his smile was shy, almost embarrassed.

"May I come in ?" The voice left no place for doubt — it _was_ Brian. Hugo blinked several times, trying to do something, and he finally nodded and let Brian in, almost mechanically.

He finally found the strength to speak. "Brian ? Is that really you ? I mean, why are you here ?" _Why __do __you __still __look __so __young__?_

"I've been… sent here. Hugo, tell me. What do you know about the Cullens ?"

Hugo stared at him, surprised and speechless. How could he know about his and Lynne's investigating the Cullens ? After a while, Brian resumed talking.

"I have a lot to explain to you."

"It makes no sense." Hugo couldn't believe that — he _couldn't_.

Brian smirked. "Yeah, I said that as well the first time."

"You're telling me there are _vampires_ around, Brian. I'm sorry, but I'm going to need some kind of evidence."

"Well, how about the fact that your house is still standing ?"

"What ?"

Brian looked surprised, this time. "Wait, you didn't know this house had burned down yesterday ? No one called you ?"

Hugo blinked. _My __phone_. He'd turned it off in the airplane to leave Forks, and had forgotten to turn in back on ! He did at once, and the phone started to go crazy with all the messages he'd got. He listened to one of them. Mrs Whitcombe was telling him his house was burning. There were three such messages, followed by two from the chief of the fire fighters, telling him the same thing. And a similar message from Lynne.

Once done with listening to those messages, he turned back to Brian. _It's __impossible__ — __it__ can't __be__…_ "That doesn't prove anything about vampires."

"I understand you don't want to believe it. I'll try to find suitable evidence later. Right now, we need to get you out of here. There's someone who wants to talk to you."

"First, I want to know something." Hugo cleared his throat, unsure as to how he should say that. "Why didn't you… why didn't you come back ?"

Brian looked away, but he couldn't hide his sadness from Hugo. "I thought you hated me for all I'd said — that you loved Joan more than me, that you just stayed with me instead of Louisa because she was dead, that… I thought you wouldn't want me back."

Hugo shook his head, feeling as if his heart would shatter. "That's not true. I'd have had you back any moment if you had come back."

Brian nodded. "I should have known that. I don't know, maybe I just couldn't come back." He opened his mouth as if to say more, but remained silent. In the end, Hugo couldn't help himself — he wrapped his arms around Brian.

"I'm glad you're back, Brian."

He felt the other man relax in his arms for a moment, but he then gently broke free. "Me too, Hugo. But we don't have time for this. I really need you to come with me and…"

Brian froze when he heard a sound outside. Hugo went to look through the window "It's only Joan" he said. "Oh… and her boyfriend." _Edward__ Cullen.__ If __I__ am__ to __trust __Brian, __he's __a __vampire_. Could he trust Brian ? He wanted to say yes, with all his heart, but… they hadn't seen each other for so long…

Brian was moving fast behind him. "Hugo, do you trust me ?" It was almost as if the man had read her mind. Hugo looked at him in the eyes.

In the end, he nodded. "Yes."

Brian pulled something from his backpack — handcuffs, Hugo realized. "Then let me put this on you."

* * *

><p>Joan came home with Ward — she had decided to bring him along, no matter what her father would think. But when she reached the living room, she froze in stupor. Her dad was there, in handcuffs, and Aaron was with him.<p>

"What are you doing, Aaron ?" She yelled.

"Aaron ?" Her dad exclaimed.

"Just a fake name." The blonde said, casually. He turned to Joan. "I'm arresting your father, he is suspected to be a drug dealer."

What ? Her _father_ ? It couldn't be ! "You can't arrest him !" He was just a fake Christian ! But then… Joan realized her father _could_ be a drug dealer. It almost made sense.

"Yes I can." He pulled out a badge. "I'm an FBI agent and I burned down your house, Joan. I was undercover to investigate your father."

Joan walked up to him, but he pushed her away, and she fell on the ground.

Edward erupted. "What did you do that for ?" Joan hoped he wouldn't do anything stupid. He couldn't show them he was a vampire !

"Because I'm the FBI and I can !" He smiled eerily when saying that. Then he grabbed Joan's father by the shoulder and walked out of the house and in his car, and they drove away.

* * *

><p>"<em>'I'm<em>_ the __FBI __and __I __can __?'_" Hugo said, imitating Brian's voice.

Brian laughed. "Just something I was dying to say someday. Long story."

"You'll explain it all to me, won't you ?"

"Yeah, as soon as we get there."

"Where ?"

"A cottage by the sea, in La Push. The Cullens can't go there ; we'll be safe." He paused for a while. "Hugo, you noticed, didn't you ?"

"Joan wasn't surprised when you said you burned the house. Neither was Edward."

"Exactly. You believe me, now ?"

Hugo sighed. _Did_ he believe Brian ? "I don't know, Brian. I don't know."


	20. Chapter 19 — Questions

Joan stood in shock as she watched Aaron's car going away. The house felt horribly empty to her now that her dad wasn't there ; even Ward standing next to her somehow didn't make up for it. The vampire wrapped his arms around her.

"Ward… Do you think I could move in with you ? I couldn't stand being alone in this house…"

"Of course, my love." He helped her pack her clothes and the rest of her stuff, and they drove to his home. When they arrived, MC took care of Joan while Edward and Emmet prepared the guest room for her.

In the evening, however, she realized what was wrong — she missed her dad and her home. She got up and went to Ward's room. "Ward, we must free my dad."

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. "We will. Tomorrow, we'll go to the jail and get him out. You need to go to sleep, now, Joan." She nodded and went back to her bed, where she fell asleep at once. Ward would make everything right.

* * *

><p>They reached the cottage in the evening. Brian had already prepared everything there — including some of Hugo's stuff he'd taken from the house before burning it down. He quickly cursed at himself for being so organized — they had nothing to do. Hugo naturally went to cook them dinner, that they ate in an awkward silence. After their earlier vampire talk, it was a bit stressful for Brian.<p>

Of course, Hugo was the one who first got the courage to speak. "So… how long have you been in Forks ?"

"Only since yesterday. I would have talked with you earlier, but you were away."

The auburn-haired man nodded. "And you said you burned the house."

Brian nodded. _Yes.__ Of __course __he's __going __to __ask __about __this_. "I had orders. I _did_ save some of your stuff, though." Surely Hugo would have noticed his own belongings. Suddenly, Brian remembered something, and went for his backpack. "And… this." He pulled the ship. _Ours_. When Hugo saw it, he looked slightly shocked, but then smiled. With his increased senses, Brian could sense he was struggling with tears. "I was supposed to burn everything, but I couldn't."

Hugo looked him straight in the eyes. "And yet you didn't come back."

Brian nodded. "I told you. I thought you would hate me. I had thrown a temper tantrum because you were trying to be a decent dad."

"That's not all of it, is it ?"

How Hugo had guessed it, Brian couldn't tell. Maybe they knew each other too well. "I was going to come back when an empath tried to feed on me. He made me a hybrid and I had no choice but to join the Unit."

Hugo sighed. "It all comes back to the vampires, then."

"I guess so." Brian looked away, lost in his thoughts. He almost jumped when he felt Hugo's hand on his shoulder.

"I'm glad you came back. I don't care it took you so long. I'm just glad."

Brian was about to protest when he was silenced by Hugo's lips on his.

* * *

><p>Lynne rang the doorbell of the Donnas' house, Parere waiting behind her. She had gathered information about Lewis Donna since John had told him the scientist apparently knew about the vampires. Her research tended to show no connection to the Cullens, but she was still worried.<p>

They were lucky enough that Lewis himself opened the door. "Detective Epieu. That's… it's quite late for a visit. What can I do for you ?"

Parere walked forward. "Hello, Lewis."

The scientist's eyes widened. "Jane ? I thought… You said you'd never come back in Forks !" Lynne frowned. _Really,__now__?_

Parere nodded. "Yeah, well, that was too important. May we come in ?"

Lewis Donna nodded and led them to his living room. "So… What is it I can do for you ?"

"The Cullens" Parere said. "We need to take them down. What can you tell me about them ?

Lewis glanced at Lynne, and Parere nodded as if to confirm he could talk freely. "Well, they are very powerful. Some much more than others. I'm thinking of Edward here. I also have some doubts about Esme. I can't scan her aura — I think she has some way to hide it. Whether it's an individual power of hers or more… I can't say."

"I have reason to believe one of the coven is a witch."

"Really ? Yeah, that would fit. Surely, Esme hides her aura. To another vampire, it will just look like she's very weak, but my equipment would be able to analyze her aura if that were the case." He sighed. "Yes, she could be a witch and use her powers to hide her aura."

Lynne stopped him. "A witch, now ? No one told me about witches."

Lewis looked at her, intrigued. "Excuse me, detective, but how do you know about vampires and not witches ?"

Parere answered for her. "She had to learn very quickly." She turned to Lynne and added, "Yes, detective Epieu, there are witches too. And werewolves. Well, I only know of one living werewolf."

Lewis nodded. "Yes. Jacob Black." Lynne had heard of him — he worked at Hugo's house, apparently. But him being a _werewolf_ ? Well, Lynne doubted she could be any more surprised by now. "He's upstairs, by the way, so don't get too loud or you'll wake them up. What else do you want to know ?"

"Do you have anything that would help us fight them ?" Lynne asked.

The man thought about it. "I have some weapons, yes, but nothing too fancy or high-tech. I have quite a stock of vervain essence, if you need it. But I guess you have plenty of those, Jane."

Parere nodded. "What I need is information. Something to bring them down."

"Well, I did study them in the past three years. I guess you know they treated three of their own like dirt — Emmet, Jasper, and the deceased Rosalie. Alice seems to be an intermediate — she can see the future, so she's not really disposable. Carlisle is the official leader, but in truth, Esme pulls the strings. Now that you tell me Esme might be a witch… It's entirely possible that Carlisle would be her knight."

"Her knight ?" Lynne asked.

"Yes, they formed a mental bond. He gets stronger, resists to other witches' magic, they can communicate telepathically…"

"So Carlisle should be taken out if I want to make Esme vulnerable." Parere said — it wasn't really a question.

"Yes. Kill the knight, and the witch will… feel his death, weakening her. It might be a good solution. But, while she may not have your talent, Jane, remember she has _centuries_ of practice. Even you may have trouble defeating her."

"So you're a witch too ?" Lynne asked. They both ignored her.

"What about Edward ?"

"He's the real mystery. If anything, I'd say that Esme prepares him to lead the coven when she resigns or dies. I have no idea what exactly his role is. But his… infatuation with Joan might help you bring the coven down. It's definitely a weakness, at least. Oh. Joan. That reminds me. You know she went to Italy ?"

"Heard of it, yes."

"I have reason to believe she got the Organization's attention in the process."

Parere grimaced. "Do you think they might interfere if I try to bring the coven down ?"

Lynne was completely lost, but decided to not bother interrupting them again. Lewis thought about it for a while. "Hard to say. I wished I had a contact in the Organization, but it's not the case, I'm afraid. On the other hand, there's that Borgia family that arrived from Rome shortly after Joan's return. I would tend to say it's suspicious." Parere nodded. "I have something else. About the werewolf. Wait a second, I'll get it for you." He left the room, leaving Lynne and Parere alone.

"So… What's that witch business ? And that 'organization' ?"

"The Organization wants to use the supernatural — mainly the vampires — for their own power. And the witches are… well, exactly what it sounds like. We can manipulate a substance we call the Power to varying effects."

She froze when she heard people walking down the stairs.

"Detective Epieu ? And… who's that with you ?" Lynne recognized Jenny, Lewis' daughter. Most interesting were the two boys with her, that Lynne recognized as Jacob Black and Emmet Cullen. They had the same stunned look, focused on Parere. _They __know __her_. What had Parere said ? That she had two infiltrated men close to the Cullen coven ?

She pretended to introduce them anyway. "Jane Parere… Jenny Donna, Jacob Black, and Emmet Cullen."

Jenny walked closer to Parere. "You look familiar… Do I know you ?" The girl frowned. Lynne noted that both of them had the same, shiny green eyes. Was there a connection here ?

Lewis walked back in the room, a large tome in hand. It was apparently ancient — the binding looked like actual leather, and she could see the pages were not made of paper. "I have it ! That book…" He stopped, noticing his daughter and two boys. He looked at Parere. "Do you want to…" She shook her head, and grabbed the book he was holding.

"Thanks, Lewis. I think that will be all — for now, at least. Goodbye." She left, quickly nodding goodbye to the others.

Lynne stared at the door, frowning. _What __have __I __just __witnessed__?_ "I should go as well. Goodbye, Mr Donna. Thank you for your help."

"You're welcome. Please don't hesitate to come back if you have any question. It seems to me I could teach you a lot."

"I'll think of it." She really did — she did want to know more. The more she knew, the better she would be able to fight the Cullens.

She hadn't caught up with Parere, who had vanished in the night. The woman did leave a message for her, inside her car, telling her to meet one of her agent — Agent Ardere — and where to meet him.

Next morning, Lynne was driving to the La Push reservation. She reached an isolate part of the coast ; there were mostly cliffs, but with Parere's instructions, she found a way to reach the beach below. On that small beach, she found an isolated cottage. She knocked on the door.

The door opened, followed by a familiar voice. "Lynne ?"

She blinked in surprise. "Hugo ? What are you doing here ?"

"I could ask you the same."

"I'm… I'm supposed to meet Agent Ardere. You know him ?"

He smiled. "Oh. Come in." He let her come in, and called out. "It's for you, Brian."

_Brian __?_ That was impossible. And yet, once inside, there he was. Hugo's first crush from so many years ago, emerging from the kitchen. "_You're_ Agent Ardere ?"

The blonde grinned. "Yup, that's me."

"You're an agent of the Unit ?"

He shrugged. "You work with them too. How's it so surprising ?" He sat down in the couch beside Hugo.

"What about you, Hugo ?"

"Oh, he just found me a few days ago. He brought me here so the Cullens wouldn't come after me, and told me everything." He sighed. "I'm not quite sure if this is all for real."

"It's for real, trust me, Hugo." Lynne said. "I had to face them in Columbia. That's what Parere wanted me to find there."

Brian smirked. "Yeah, that's exactly the kind of stuff the boss would do."

"You know her ?" Lynne still had the impression Parere was familiar to her, and she wondered if Brian would think the same.

He shook his head. "Never met her in person. My instructor was Lux, and he gave me most of my orders. When he stopped being my superior, I got my orders mostly by the phone."

"Lux ? I met him. He's dead."

Brian nodded. "I know." Hugo wrapped his arms around the other man. _Did__ they __get __back __together__ ?_ Lynne wondered, repressing a pinch of jealousy. Probably ; those two had always been deeply in love.

"So… what's the plan ?" Lynne asked.

Brian looked up to her. "Apparently we're supposed to share information and work together."

Lynne nodded. "Okay. You first."

* * *

><p>Late in the afternoon, Edward took Joan to his car. However, she soon realized he didn't drive to the jail as planned — they were actually leaving Forks !<p>

"Ward, where are we going ?"

He giggled, but remained silent. Joan felt a bit worried — where was he going ? Did he suddenly stop loving her and decide to kill her ? Maybe she'd done something wrong ? Or her father ? Or Aaron ? Or… Suddenly, she realized they were in Port Angeles. He stopped in front of a restaurant, and led her inside.

"Order something to eat." He said, smiling.

"But I don't know any of these !"

He chuckled. "Fine, I'll order for you." He then whispered something in the waiter's ear. The man nodded, and went away.

Joan frowned. "What is going on ?" She was interrupted by the man bringing her a plate. She realized she didn't know the name of anything that was on this plate — but she found it all delicious. By the looks of it, she guessed it was seafood, something like that. She ate, Ward watching her, seemingly lost in adoration.

When she was done, she had completely forgotten about her father. "So, why did you bring me to this fancy restaurant ?"

He smiled. "Because you're sexah, and I love you." He then brought her to the beach, where they watched the sun set. He embraced her tightly, and she lay her head on his shoulder.

"I love your smell. I love you, Joan." He gently pushed her away and fell on one knee. "You're the love of my life, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Joan held her breath. _He's__ not __gonna __say __it, __he's __not__…_

He said it. "Will you marry me ?" He presented her with a ring — a very beautiful, ornate ring with a large diamond. She noticed, under the diamond, a golden cross pattern.

She gasped. But she knew the answer. "Yes !" She had wanted to marry him for so long, she'd even asked for it ! And now he agreed ! She kissed and hugged him as he placed the ring around her finger. After an eternity of kisses, they went back to his home.

She woke in the middle of the night, realizing the evening in Port Angeles was actually real. She was going to _marry_ Edward ! Her excitement was so huge she couldn't fall asleep. Closing her eyes, she tried to picture Ward kissing her, but nothing came. Instead, she only saw a younger boy, with a tanned skin and dark hair and eyes… Jacob ! Shocked, she jumped out of the bed, then lay down again.

She finally fell asleep, but her dreams confused her even further. In them, Jacob, sometimes a man, sometimes a wolf, howled in pain and cried, telling her he loved her, that he loved her more than Edward did.

When she woke up, she felt awful. What had she become ? Did she love Edward or Jacob ? In the end, she called a taxi which drove her to Jacob's house.

When she got there, she knocked on the door. It was almost dawn, and it had started to rain. She kept knocking, shouting "Jacob !" over and over again. Finally, he opened the door, wearing only loose pants and still looking half asleep.

"Joan ?" He blinked. "What are you doing here ?"

"Jacob, I think I'm making a mistake in marrying Ward, I think I love you." She tried to hug him, but he walked away.

"Wow, don't come too close, you're soaked." Suddenly his eyes flung wide open. "Wait… you're _marrying_ Edward ?" Joan nodded. "And you think it's a bad idea." She nodded again. "Then you have to break the engagement !" Jacob sounded extremely serious to Joan, more than she'd ever heard him before.

"I… I don't know, Jacob. I still love him, but I love you too. I don't know who I should choose."

Jacob stroke her cheek with his fingers. "I'm sure you'll make the right choice, Joan."

She nodded. "Thanks, Jacob." Resisting her urge to kiss him right away, she added, "I should probably go now." And she left.

* * *

><p>Jenny heard Jacob close the door and come back in his room. "Joan's gonna marry Edward ?" she said.<p>

Jacob shrugged. "Sounds like it."

"And you made her doubt it." He nodded. "Part of your plan ?" Another nod.

"If my brother finds out that she even doubted it because of you, you should better be prepared to fight." Emmet said, from deep within the sheets.

Jenny jumped on the opportunity. "I _knew_ Edward was dangerous. Why don't you let me in your plan ?"

Both young men exchanged a look, then Emmet talked. "We can't. It's just… We have to ask first."

"To that Jane Parere woman ?" Their look when she said that was _priceless_. "Yeah, you should learn to control your expression, boys. It was so obvious you knew her, my eyes hurt."

"Surely we can make up for that." Jacob said, kissing her on the eyelid.

She giggled. "Can't you be serious for a second ?" she said, pushing him away. "I want you two to promise that you'll at least try your best to convince her I can help."

It took her half an hour to convince them, but they promised.


	21. Chapter 20 — Pretending

When Joan and Edward arrived to the jail in Forks — a small building that wasn't used very often and could only hold half a dozen prisoners — Brian was in position, ready to put his plan in action. Using his cover as an FBI agent, he had had the prison quietly evacuated. Another Unit agent, codename Janus, was at the front desk. Brian was watching from behind a door that led to the cells.

The couple entered the building and walked to the desk, and Brian saw Joan's ridiculous dress — a black dress with something similar to a corset that pushed her breasts up so tightly they seemed unaffected by gravity. She also wore a large ring — _Is__ that __an __engagement __ring __?_ No time to think of the implications of _that_.

"Hi," she said when she got Janus's attention — and she immediately wrinkled her nose when she saw him, as if to say 'you're incredibly ugly' — "We want to get my dad out of jail."

Janus knew what he was supposed to do. "And why would I do that, girl ? He's been arrested for a _reason_, ya know."

She looked genuinely surprised. "He's innocent. He doesn't do drugs."

"I'll have to check this." He walked through the door, joining Brian in the hallway. "Ready, Ardere ?" he whispered. Brian nodded. The other agent went back to the front desk.

"Ya can't have him."

"Why not ?"

"He cheated his taxes, or something." He pulled a paper from under the desk. "Here, have a look at that, girl." He walked around the desk to plant a paper in front of her. As Joan and Edward were trying to read it, he grabbed the girl and forced her to follow her towards the door, getting a sharp squeal from the girl.

Brian made his entrance at this point. "Hey, you two ! I wanted to tell you… We're gonna kill your dad, Joan."

"Aaron ! Let my dad go !"

"It's _Brian_, honey." He triggered the detonator at this point, and the rest of the prison burst in flames. Edward jumped on him and tried to take him down, but Brian was ready — he managed to counter the attack. Having stunned the vampire, he ran out of the building along with the other agent and Joan, locking and barricading the door in the process.

"You think it'll be enough ?" Janus asked.

"It should be."

Joan was still trying to have Janus let her go. "No ! My dad's in there ! Ward's in there ! You're burning them ! Like, with _fire_ ! Let us go ! Leave us alone ! You're just jealous of my good Christian life !"

"Is there a mute button ?" Janus joked.

The flames had now reached the entrance hall of the jail. Suddenly, however, rain started to fall, and the temperature dropped radically. _This __isn't __natural_. Joan was the one to guess, inadvertently, what the origin of this phenomenon was.

"MC ! Please, go get the others, we gotta save Ward and my dad !"

Sure enough, Esme Cullen was there. _Parere __must __have __been __right. __She__ must __be __a __witch __if __she __can __do __that_. Due to the enchanted rain and the cold, the fire was almost out. _This__ shouldn't __happen._ The woman walked towards them. "Well, are you kidnapping this girl ?" Janus looked to Brian, who nodded, and the other agent let the girl go. She ran to the vampire.

"MC ! You have to help them !"

"Don't worry, Joan sweetie. Edward is fine, and I'm sure your father is too. As soon as the ruins have cooled, I'll go look for them myself."

Mission was complete, sort of — they hadn't killed Edward as they had hoped, but they had identified the witch. Brian and Janus went away. Weirdly enough, Esme Cullen let them go. _I__ expected__ to__ have __to __fight __my __way __out __of __here_. Was the woman so sure of her victory ?

* * *

><p>Brian reached the rendezvous point a bit late. For some reason, Parere had chosen the street in front of Jenny's house to meet him — yes, meet him, for the first time. Despite being late, there was no one around — but he expected the leader of the Unit to only appear when he'd be there.<p>

Sure enough, he spotted a woman coming at him in the distance. He immediately noticed her hair — they were silvery, like the empaths' eyes. He knew she was part empath, much more so than Brian himself, but didn't know it manifested so obviously. When she got close, however, he saw much more of her face — her shiny green eyes, her smooth features, her slim yet strong body…

"You." He said as a greeting.

"Yes, me, Brian."

"_You're_ Agent Parere ? The leader of the Unit ?" She nodded. Brian couldn't help laughing. "You realize you're kinda the reason all of this happened."

"I think that's a small-minded vision of it. It all would have happened anyway."

"But Hugo wouldn't have been a part of it."

"Indeed." He saw regret in her eyes — or was it his empathic abilities that told him she felt regret ? Brian wasn't always sure. "Who else knows ?"

"The man who lives in this house. I don't know if you knew him, back then ? Lewis Donna." Brian nodded. Lewis had been the nerd in high school — that meant he had been bullied, and Hugo had always defended those who were bullied. "He knows about me — I needed his help when I founded the Unit. Lynne hasn't recognized me, I think. She didn't know me as well. That's it. No one else from Forks ever met Jane Parere in person."

"Until now." She nodded. "Why now ?"

"Soon after you were recruited by Lux, I knew who you were. So when I needed help in Forks, I brought you here."

"You forced me to burn Hugo's house knowing what it meant ?"

"Yeah. I wanted to know just who you had become in your time in the Unit."

"I guess I did the right thing ?"

She laughed. "Barely. When I saw you'd burned the house, I thought Lux had made you a copy of him."

He picked the ship in a bottle in his backpack. "But I didn't burn everything."

"I know. That's why I let you take Hugo away."

Brian sighed. "What's the next part of your masterplan ?"

"I've been asked a favor from two of my recruits. They want me to let Jenny Donna in on their plan."

"You're gonna agree to let a human in on this ? The timing may not be optimal."

"That's why I'm asking _you_ to train her."

Brian shook his head. "No way. I'm not taking the responsibility of sending a girl to her death."

The woman smirked. "When did one of my plan fail ?"

"Most of them did since you went against the Cullens."

"Exactly. And that's because I lacked information. But in this case, I don't. I actually have the advantage now I know Esme's a witch. So, as your superior, Brian, I _command_ you to train this girl."

Brian sighed. "How long do I have ?"

"A week, maybe more. But you shouldn't worry so much. She has a lot of basics, you'll see."

"At your orders, Mrs Boss."

She laughed at the nickname.

* * *

><p>MC had taken care of everything once the fire stopped. Since… Brian… and his friend had left, MC could freely use her strength as a vampire to bring down the door. They soon found Edward, clothes torn up in pieces and covered in soot, but alive. Joan ran to him at once and took him in her arms.<p>

"Ward !" She felt empty, as if her fear of losing him had erased all emotions inside her. But soon enough, Ward's presence filled her with an entirely different emotion.

"It's okay, Joan. I'm fine."

He gently led her to his car, MC following them, and he drove them all back home. There, MC called for a family meeting, and Edward told them what happened. The news caused an outrage, but it was Alice who came up with the idea first.

"We have to kill that Brian !"

That sentence was first greeted with shock by everyone — especially MC and Emmet, Joan noticed. But Joan herself overcame that shock quickly.

"You're right. We have to."

MC placed a hand on Joan's shoulder. "Sweet Joan, you know our religion…"

"I _don't __care_ about our religion ! He burned my house and my dad ! I hate him ! He must die !"

"But, Joan, it might not be a good idea… That Brian is the hand, sure, but didn't he say he's from the FBI ? If we kill him, they'll just send another one…"

"No !" Why was no one telling MC how obnoxious she was ?

Ward came to her rescue. "I agree with Joan."

MC stared at him. "Edward…"

The vampire snapped. "No, mom !" He shouted "Joan's not safe as long as that… that _psycho_'s around ! Like it or not, I'm killing this man !"

Joan hugged Edward tighter than ever before. "Thank you" she whispered.

"We'll need a plan." Alice said. "I suggest you two leave Forks for a few days while we get ready."

Edward nodded. "Our second house ?"

"Seems like a good option."

"Very well. Come on, Joan. We have to pack, quickly."

Joan nodded and followed him upstairs.

* * *

><p>When Jenny arrived home from fencing class, she noticed three figures in front of her house. Since it was already dark, she couldn't make out who they were, but she felt like she knew them. Intrigued, she slowly walked close to them. All three of them turned towards her.<p>

"Jenny !"

"Jacob ? What're you doing here ?" She finally was close enough to see them. He was with Emmet, and she recognized the last man as the Aaron guy. "What are _you_ doing here ?"

"It's okay, Jenny, he's with us."

The blonde smiled. "And my name's Brian Hahnel, by the way." He held out his hand, and Jenny shook it, still unsure of what was going on. "You mind letting us in ?"

She looked at Jacob and Emmet, who both nodded. "If they trust you, I guess…" She went to open the door for them, and led the way to the living room.

Then she turned to face Brian. "So — what are you doing here ? You're the one who burned Joan's house, aren't you ?"

Brian shrugged. "I had orders. Plus, it's not like there were consequences on the long term." He looked around. "What ? We all know the Cullens are vampires, might as well get it out of the way. 'Cause that's what I am doing here. I want to destroy the coven. Well, aside from Emmet here. He's on my side."

Jenny frowned. "What ?" That was all she could say. Was Emmet working with Brian to destroy his own coven, his _family_ ? "Why ?"

"What do you know ? It's easier if I fill in the blanks. I was allowed to do so."

"By Parere ?"

Brian frowned, apparently surprised. "You know her ?"

"She came here to talk to my dad. What do I know ? That there are vampires, and they're supposed to drink blood, but the Cullens don't."

"Ah, I see" Brian interrupted her. "_That_'s kind of a problem. The Cullens do drink human blood."

She looked at Emmet, shocked. "Is that true ?"

He looked away. "I wanted to protect you from them. If you had found out, they would have added you on the menu."

"That's… that's insane ! So you date a girl knowing your family would gladly eat her ?"

"Sorry to interrupt again," Brian said, "but save your fight for later. You should see the whole picture first."

Jenny forced herself to nod. "Fine. Go on."

"The Cullens drink human blood, that's true. For some reason, they usually find a way to… dispose of the victims, but they failed to do so for one — Britney Epieu. That's what caught our attention."

"And who are you ?"

"The Special Cases SHS Unit. Our task is to protect people from the paranormal forces that could cause harm. We knew of the Cullens before, but they had managed to vanish for a long time. Britney helped us find them again. Parere's our boss, and she went herself to recon the situation, along with one of our agent, James."

"James ? The vampire who attacked us ?"

"The one and only. I don't know all the details, but his attacks were a way of testing the Cullen coven. And at one point, he got the opportunity to talk to Emmet alone."

Emmet cleared his throat, and Brian paused, looking at him. "If you don't mind, I'd like to say that myself." Brian nodded. "James trapped me. Parere managed to capture me and asked me to join her, to use my position in the coven to help bring them down."

"But why would you do that ?"

"You didn't notice how they treat me ? I'm basically their dumb muscle. A meat bag. Jasper isn't much better — neither was Rosalie — but I was the lowest-ranking vampire. I had enough, and I had an opportunity to stop being treated like that. So I accepted. Since then, I don't feed on human blood — the Unit has synthesized something that feeds me just as well."

Jenny turned to Brian. "Is that true ?"

Brian shrugged. "Yup. If Emmet did drink human blood, he would suffer the consequences. Every Unit member is bound by our rules through what we call a blood pact. Basically… you don't want to break the rules of a blood pact." He grinned. "Anyway, back to the story. When Edward found out James wasn't dead, he guessed Emmet had betrayed him and dismembered him before burying him into the ground. If Emmet had been a simple traitor, it would have been a cool torture, since it wouldn't have killed him and kept him suffering forever. But Parere could easily heal that, hence the 'coming back from the dead' business. I think the rest is pretty clear."

Jenny nodded. "What does this all have to do with me, now ?"

"You asked to be in, and Parere agrees. So, now that you know the whole, thing… do you still want in ? Do you want to help us take down the Cullen coven ?"

Jenny hesitated. "I… I don't know. You know, Joan really loves Edward."

Jacob frowned. "What about Joan ? Does it really matter ?"

"It does to me. She may have betrayed me, but I'm not like her ! She's… she's still my friend… And I don't really want to hurt her."

Brian nodded. "Would you at least keep the secret ?"

"It's not that, I… Can I just wait and think about it ?"

Brian grimaced. "That's a problem. Parere thinks that we may have a week left — maybe a bit longer than that. If you are going to help us, you have to be ready."

Jenny sighed. "Isn't there any way ?"

Brian remained silent for long minutes, thoughtful. "Maybe… I could already train you no matter what. You should be prepared to deal with vampires whether you're with us or not. What do you say ?"

"I'm okay with that."

Brian got up. "Fine, then. I'll pick you up tomorrow after school, okay ?" She nodded. Brian made his way to the front door. "And Jenny… Don't betray us." Both Emmet and Jacob let out scandalized exclamations, but Jenny simply nodded again. _I__ won't_.


	22. Chapter 21 — Denial

Brian arrived at the cottage in the morning, hoping to catch Hugo by surprise. But the auburn-haired man was actually sitting in the living room, well awake and reading a book. When he heard Brian coming, he raised his head.

"Brian ? You're here, so soon ? Is everything okay ?" He asked, mockingly. Brian wasn't a morning person, and Hugo liked to tease him with that.

"Very funny. I'm taking you back home today."

Hugo frowned. "Really ? I thought it was too dangerous."

_It__ still __is,__ probably, __but __we __have __to __bring __you __back __to __Forks__ before __Joan__ gets __too __entwined __with __the __Cullens. __If __she__ isn't __already_. "Yeah, well, I got their attention. We're pretty sure you're safe for now." _The__ boss __is__ sure __about __it. __I__ guess __I__ can __trust __her. __Can __I__ trust __her __?_

Hugo had a sad smile. "So you're risking your life instead of me ? I'm not sure it's much better."

Brian went to sit next to Hugo. "The difference is, I've spent twelve years fighting vampires. I'm kinda used to this. I'll be fine."

Hugo literally jumped on him, and forced him to lie down on the couch. Then he laughed. "If I can get you down so easily, they'll eat you."

"You don't count. Plus, I've got my trick too." Brian kissed him, and gently pushed him away. Hugo rolled and fell on the floor, chuckling. Brian was soon above him, kissing him some more.

"I thought you had to get me home ?" Hugo asked in a whisper.

"It can wait."

* * *

><p>The plan wasn't ready. But Joan and Edward had had to come back. That Brian guy had let Joan's father go, and Joan had insisted that they should go back to Forks at once. After only an hour of insisting, Edward had given in.<p>

Joan had called her dad to warn her she would come home soon — they were only a few hours away from town, after all. Somehow, he hadn't seemed too angry at her for leaving, this time.

When they arrived at her home, Joan was actually surprised to see her father had thrown a party to celebrate her return. Jenny and Becca were here, as well as Jacob and Dan. No Cullen, Joan noticed — but she didn't want to be mad at her father right now. As soon as Joan entered the living room, her two best friends ran at her and hugged her tight.

"Oh my God, Joan !" Jenny said. "We missed you so much !"

"Ooh, new look !" Becca exclaimed. Joan had dyed her hair back to its natural auburn during their trip. While it made her look more like her father, it did look quite good on her. She told that to the girls.

"It sure does fit you ! So, how was your trip to the countryside ?" Becca asked.

"Great ! I had a lot of fun !" _Plotting __murder's __much __more __fun __than __you'd __think, __girl __!_ But she couldn't say that — that wasn't Christian.

Jenny turned towards Edward. "Ward ! We missed you too !" She gave him a hug. Ward seemed as surprised as Joan by that, but she didn't mind — she knew Jenny wouldn't hit on her boyfriend.

"How's Emmet ?" he asked.

"Oh, he's fine !"

"Girls," Joan said when Edward had walked away, "you know what ? I'm going to marry him !"

Jenny gasped in surprise. "What ?" _Aren't__ you __supposed __to __be __rejoicing __?_

Becca let out a squeal. "Oh my god, girl, that's great ! I'm so happy for both of you !" _Yeah, __that's __more __like __it_. "Do you have a ring and all ?" Joan gladly showed her, explaining her the ring's story — apparently, Edward had got it from his human family, and it was very old.

Soon enough, Edward offered them — with Joan's dad's approval — to go to his home, and they all gladly agreed. MC made them dinner, then they went to the TV room and watched Gossip Girl for at least two hours. Then everyone started to go their own way in the house — Alice with Dan, Becca with Jasper, Jenny with _both_ Jacob and Emmet, which surprised Joan, and of course Joan herself with Edward.

They were cuddling on the bed — nothing more, this time ; they'd be wed soon enough anyway. Joan kissed Edward, and closed her eyes — but in her mind, she didn't kiss Edward, but Jacob !

* * *

><p>"Not Jay !" The scream was loud enough that Jenny heard it from Emmet's room, as far from Edward's as it's possible within the Cullens' house. She turned to Jacob.<p>

"Did you do something to her ?" She asked, grinning. He definitely couldn't have done anything to Joan, busy as the three of them had been.

The boy shrugged, smiling. "Nope. I don't know what's happened to her."

Joan screamed, this time. Jenny sighed. "Ah, I'll go see what happened." She got out of the bed and quickly gathered some clothes to put on. When she was dressed, she went out the room and followed Joan's inarticulate shouts to the living room.

She was running around like she was mad, and Edward was following her.

"What do you mean, 'Not Jay' ?" He asked.

She turned and stopped, and the vampire almost bumped into her. "When we were kissing, instead of thinking about how hot you were, I was thinking about Jacob !" She was on the verge of crying.

_What__ ?__ Could __it __be__ that __Jacob's __plan __worked __and__ she __fell__ in __love __with __him__ ?_ Jenny wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not.

Edward turned away from Joan, and Jenny couldn't see his face anymore. "Joan… You found me… not _sexah_ ?" Hearing him speak, Jenny thought he was about to cry, too.

Joan walked up to him and hugged him. "I'm so sorry, Ward ! That's not what I meant ! It's just… I don't know how I feel anymore." Jenny could almost sympathize with her, if one of the guys Joan was in love with wasn't _her__ own __boyfriend_.

Ward shoved the girl away, and Joan fell to the ground.. Coldly, he said, "I love you too, Joan. But you need to sort out your feelings. You need to know who you really love. And _do __it __now_ !" He sounded almost threatening at the end. He then left the room, leaving Joan there. Jenny ran up to her and knelt beside her, and Joan cried on her shoulder. Becca soon arrived, and tried to console her friend. She then offered to drive her to church to ask for guidance. Joan accepted, but said she wanted to go alone with Becca. _Thanks__ for __leaving __me __out_, Jenny thought bitterly. _It's__ only __my __boyfriend __you're __talking __about_.

* * *

><p>"You sure you want to go in there, hun ?" Becca asked while patting Joan on the shoulder. She nodded — she knew she had to sort her feelings as Ward had asked, and she needed help for that. And who'd help her better than Father James Holden ? She kissed Becca on the cheek, thanked her, and walked in the church alone.<p>

At this late hour, the church was empty — but she'd called Father Holden to warn her she'd come, and he was waiting for her by the altar.

"Good evening, Miss St Sanctuary. I'm pleased you came ! You've been a good Christian and God is very proud of you."

Joan gasped. "He told you so ?"

He laughed. "He did, through his teachings that you follow so admirably." Joan felt reassured — despite all she had feared, she hadn't left the righteous path. "Is this about your Edward ?"

At the mention of Ward, Joan teared up, but forced herself not to cry. She fell to her knees. "I'm so, so sorry, Father !"

"It's alright, dear. So, what is it ?"

"I… I think I love two people ! There's Ward, who's irresistible and _sexah_, but then there's Jacob. He's not as perfect, of course, but he's so devoted and nice to me ! I don't know what to do !"

The priest nodded. "You don't intend to do something bad, do you ? You don't intend to… have them both ?"

Joan gasped. "No ! Of course not ! That would be very un-Christian ! I would never…" _Is__ that __the __way __Jenny __had __chosen __?_ She spent so much time with both Jacob and Emmet now… She shook her head, dismissing the thought. "That's why I need you ! To choose !"

"Well, I know them both. They're both good Christian, and there's no difference in the purity of their hearts. It is up to you to choose. Who do you love the most ?"

"Ward. No, Jay ! Ward. Jay. No, no, Ward ! Jay, Ward, Jay, Ward… Ah ! I can't choose !"

The priest took her by the hand and led her outside. "When I am faced to a difficult choice, I look at the sun or the moon and hope God will send me a message. Do you know some say the sun and the moon are really the eyes of God ?" Joan giggled at the thought.

"Okay, I'll try" she said. He left her there, going back into the church.

Joan stood there, watching the moon. And suddenly, she saw something in the sky. A light, a golden light ! She closed her eyes and let the light shine on her. In her mind, she was now seeing both Jacob and Edward, and the light bathed them. Suddenly, she realized something. The light didn't bathe them _both_ — one of them was the source of it ! And it was Edward !

Joan opened her eyes. "I know now." She whispered to herself. "Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Father Holden." She walked to Becca's car, and told her to drive to the Cullens' house.

As soon as the car parked, she took off her stilettos and ran faster than she'd ever had to Edward's room.

"You," she said, smiling. "I choose you."

He said nothing and returned her smile.

* * *

><p>"You can thank me for not losing your precious mate" Dan said. It was the middle of the night — the other guests had left already, and he had met Esme and Edward Cullen in the Cullens' kitchen.<p>

"What do you mean ?"

He pulled a device from his pocket. "I sent her an illusion."

Edward's eyes narrowed. "How do you have something like that ?"

Dan grinned. "Relax, pretty boy. I'm on your side. I know all about that Brian you're after. And I know how to force Joan to make a move."

Edward frowned, but Esme kept a frozen expression. "And why would Joan be forced to… make a move ?"

"Did your plan to kill Brian really advance while you were away ?"

Esme stood still, but Edward lost control. "No. She's… reluctant."

"Exactly. She's too reluctant. What she needs is enemies. Real enemies. And more than one, so she wants to kill them all. Killing several people is easier than killing one person, I was taught. You focus less on the individuals."

"What do you have in mind ?" Edward asked. Dan had obviously got the vampire's attention.

"That Brian likes to burn stuff down, right ? What could we burn down that would hurt Joan just enough, but not too much either ?" Edward's face lit up. "Exactly. The church. And that Father James Holden with it. Once she will really have lost something to Brian, she'll want him dead."

"And that other enemy ?"

"She still has feelings for that Jacob, I fear. So we must make sure he will not want her. We must, in other words, make him hate Joan. And what better way for that than to kill Jacob's current girlfriend, I wonder ?"

"She'd never want to kill Jenny."

"Not even if she thinks she stole _you_ from her ?"

Edward Cullen smiled. That smile terrified Dan — but it was also very satisfying.


	23. Chapter 22 — Snap

"I'm leaving you, Joan" Edward said. "I'm leaving you to be with Jenny."

Joan opened her eyes, screaming, her heart racing. It had been almost a week since Joan had chosen Edward for good. This dream had happened every night since then. But she knew Edward wouldn't leave her. Not for Jenny. Joan was _much_ hotter than Jenny — there was nothing to fear. Since it was almost time for school, she went to the bathroom, trying to think of something else.

When she got to school, Ward walked up to her at once. "We need to talk, Joan," he said, and he led her out of the parking lot, out of sight.

"What is it, sexah ?" Joan asked. What could it be ? He seemed very preoccupied.

"Joan, I… I don't love you anymore !" He said, almost screaming.

_What__?_ Joan was speechless. _It __can't __be. __Not __again_.

"I'm leaving you, Joan" he added. "I'm leaving you to be with Jenny."

"WHAT ?" This time, Joan had found the strength to talk. "With Jenny ?"

"She showed me… I could have so much more. Than I have with you. She showed it all to me."

"I can't believe it ! I just can't ! Go away, Ward." He tried to hug her goodbye. "Leave me alone !" She pushed him away from her and ran to the school. On her way there, she bumped into Jenny.

"Hey, girl ! What's going on ?"

"Ward left me ! But you should know, you whore !" Joan answered, slapping her friend.

Jenny stood there, staring as if she didn't know what was going on. Joan didn't pay attention to her and ran inside the school.

* * *

><p>When Jenny left school, a bit early because one of her teachers was sick, she still felt weird about what had happened in the morning. Why had Joan gone crazy on her like that ?<p>

She learned it from Emmet when she met him at her home. "Edward says he's going to be with you."

She frowned. "What ?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, I thought it was a bit weird, too."

She thought about it for a moment, then it all came clear to her. "It's not weird. It's a trap."

"Huh ?"

"I think we can agree Edward's a psycho." Emmet nodded. "He wants to turn Joan against me. Why, I can only guess." Maybe because of Jacob — if Joan didn't see Jenny anymore, she wouldn't want to see Jacob either and Edward's competition will be removed. _Talk __about __their __plan __backfiring_.

"But… then why did he dump her ?"

She sighed. "I don't know. But I'm convinced that's what it's about."

Brian rang the doorbell at that moment. She went to open the door. Jenny knew what to do. She opened the door, and as a greeting, she said, "I'm in."

Brian smiled. "I was growing desperate you'd never say that."

* * *

><p>After school, Joan finally managed to find Becca.<p>

"Ward left me for Jenny !" she said as a greeting.

"Oh my God, girl ! And it's not all !"

_Not__ all__?_ "What do you mean ?"

"You didn't hear ? The church burned last night. Father James Holden's dead !" Becca was on the verge of crying.

Joan's legs gave way beneath her. _It __burned. __It __BURNED. __Only __one __person __could __have __done __that. __Only __one __person __is __evil __enough __to __do __that_. "It's Brian !" Becca didn't even question this.

"What should we do about it ?" she asked instead.

Joan thought about it for a long time. Then the idea came to her mind, naturally. "The Volturi. They'll help us."

"How ?"

"They'll kill Jenny and Brian for us."

* * *

><p>"Jenny, I want to formally introduce you to our boss." Brian said as he opened the front door of Jenny's house. "Agent Parere, Jenny Donna."<p>

"We have met before. I am glad you finally made your choice, Jenny."

"I think Edward wants to take me out of the picture. I won't let that happen. I won't let my friend fall in the hands of this psycho !"

The silver-haired woman nodded. "And we'll help you."

At that moment, Jenny's father climbed up the stairs and noticed who was gathered in the living room — Jenny, Emmet, Jacob, Brian and Parere.

"Jane !" His face was growing concerned. Then he saw the blonde man. "Brian ?" _Why__ does __my __father __know__ Brian__?_

The woman looked at him. "Lewis, it is time."

The man's face kept getting more concerned, as impossible as it had first seemed. "Time for what ?" she asked.

Her dad gulped, took in a deep breath, and finally spoke. "Jenny, this is your mother."

Jenny couldn't see Emmet and Jacob behind her, but clearly heard their gasps. She herself… couldn't feel anything. When she'd met Parere, last time… she had seemed familiar to Jenny.

Brian himself looked deeply shocked. "But, I thought… Are _you_ Jenny's father ?"

The man frowned. "Yes. Why that question ?"

Parere shook her head. "Long story. Only I know it as a whole."

Finally, Jenny managed to utter something. "Why ?" They all turned to her. "Why did you leave us ? And why do you come back now ?"

The woman — her _mother_ — smiled sadly. "Those questions have only one answer. I am, you see, a witch. The talent is passed from mother to eldest daughter. Always, for generations. You're my eldest daughter."

"So… you left me ?"

"I left you because I knew your father would know what to do."

Jenny turned to her dad. "What does she mean ?"

"I've been studying all kind of paranormal phenomena all my life, Jenny. If someone could raise a witch, I could."

"But why leave me ?"

Parere smirked. "A sad story. We didn't love each other, so I left. And when I felt the desire to come back for you… I had already met a vampire for the first time, and been turned in a hybrid. I feared I might harm you if I stayed too close to you." She sighed. "As for why I came back… You're a witch, Jenny, and it's time for you to learn to use your abilities."

"You mean you'll teach me ?" The woman nodded. Jenny thought about it. Meet her mother… She had sort of dreamed about it, when she had been younger. But now… "Okay. You may teach me. But don't you ever think that means everything's okay."

She shook her head. "I don't expect you to forgive me. I wasn't born to be a mother, I guess." She held out her hand. "Come on. We have to start immediately. We don't have much time."

She grabbed the woman's hand, and followed her upstairs, to her room.

* * *

><p>Joan and Becca had had to wait for two days to arrive in Rome — for some reason, there were no planes available earlier. They easily found a taxi to the Colosseum. Joan didn't take time to admire it, this time — she dragged Becca along with her. She went through the barrier just like last time, and quickly reached the Volturi's underground palace.<p>

When they reached the throne room, someone was already speaking to the three leaders. She overheard their conversation.

"Yes, Aro," Ralph said, "we understood you didn't see your bastard for six years. Why is it that we should let you do that now ?"

"Because I now know she has valuable powers ! She's only a half, sure, but she's amazing ! What I've been told…"

"What you've been told comes from our spies, my son," Nickalas interrupted him. "I know exactly what they say. I actually think you should meet her. But… You won't bring her here. Not yet. Let her reach adulthood first. You may see her for a day. No more. Than. A day."

The so-called Aro tried to protest, but froze when Joan and Becca arrived behind him.

"You're dismissed, Aro," the female Volturi said, and the vampire ran off. "And what are two meals doing here ?" _Meals__?_ That didn't start out well.

"I'm no meal, I am…"

"We know who you are. You're Edward Cullen's plaything, and that's why you still breathe. What do you want ?"

"Your help. To kill two people."

Nickalas Volturi laughed. It was a cold, joyless laughter. "I see. And why would we do that ?"

"To protect both our clans" a voice came from the other side of the room. Joan turned to see who that was.

Alice Cullen walked up to them. "I come with a deal, and I am sure you'll like it."

* * *

><p>"Joan's gone back to Rome" Brian told Hugo. "I thought you might want to know."<p>

"To the… Volturi ? The vampire nobility ?"

"The most powerful coven in Europe, yeah. They're kind of equal to the Cullens, I think."

Hugo looked panicked. "But… why did she do that ?"

"According to the information Emmet gave us—"

"Emmet ?"

"Yeah" Brian had no time to explain Hugo everything. "According to him, she wants me and Jenny dead."

"You ? And _Jenny_ ? Why would she want to kill Jenny ?"

"Apparently she's been set up to believe Jenny had wronged her. Anyway. We have to get ready. Come on, I'll show you."

He led Hugo to the Donnas' house. Jenny opened the door for them, and led them to the living room.

"I think you know pretty much everyone here — Jenny, of course, Lewis, Jacob Black, Emmet Cullen, Lynne Epieu, John Stark, and our leader, Agent Parere—"

Hugo interrupted him. "You." Of course Hugo would recognize her. If Brian had been able to, Hugo would definitely recognize her.

"It's funny, Brian said exactly the same thing." The silver-haired woman said, smiling.

"I don't know if I'm glad to see you again… Louisa."


	24. Chapter 23 — Union

"I don't know if I'm glad to see you again… Louisa." That was exactly what he felt. Hugo wasn't even sure he could believe she was standing there, let alone all the other implications of this.

He could see the others' reaction in his peripheral sight, but he didn't care. He was way too much in shock.

The woman sighed. "Come on. You too, Brian, Lynne. I guess I owe you an explanation."

Jenny snapped at this. "Wait, what about me ? When were you going to tell _me_ about this ?" _Her__ ? __How__ is __this __connected __to __Jenny __?_ Hugo felt lost. However, Louisa didn't answer the girl and left the room to go downstairs. Hugo followed her, Brian and Lynne right behind him.

"So you're Louisa Anesco" Lynne said as soon as they reached the basement. "I knew your face was similar."

"All these years…" Hugo said. "I thought you were dead."

"Yeah. I hadn't really planned for that, really. The day I faked my own death was the day I met a vampire for the first time."

"But… why did you leave ?"

"I am not completely human anymore. I am somewhere around thirty percent of a vampire. I couldn't stay anywhere close to Joan. So I made sure you'd take care of her."

"You could have just asked. Damn it, Louisa, you could have _told_ me !"

"Because you'd have believed me ?"

Hugo smirked. "Yeah, it's _much_ better this way. Now some kind of supernatural war is about to take place in my town and we're far from being ready !"

"We're actually quite well-prepared" Brian interfered. Hugo glared at him — he would have really appreciated Brian's support. Brian noticed that and went to wrap his arms around Hugo's shoulders. "Hugo's right, though. As I told you before, you could have avoided most of this if you hadn't been so insistent on getting it on with Hugo."

"Yeah, but then, the Cullens would have found another girl instead of Joan" Lynne said. "Then no one would ever have shown me who Britney's killer was. What I wonder is this — why are you revealing yourself _now_ ? Do you expect Hugo to come back to you or something ?"

Louisa laughed. "No. I know I look just as young as when I left you, but I'm not as foolish anymore. I realize I'm not the one for Hugo. I never was" she said, gazing at Brian.

Everyone remained silent for a moment, but then Lynne gasped. "But wait… Lewis told me being a witch is hereditary ! Does that mean Joan's a witch too ?"

Louisa shook her head, but said nothing. Brian cleared his throat. "Louisa… you have to tell him."

She nodded, sighing. "Fine. Jenny's my daughter, too. Since she's older, she's the witch. It's only the older daughter who becomes a witch."

Hugo didn't even feel surprised — it was as if the world had stopped making sense anyway, so why not this as well ? "She does look a lot like you, I guess." _Jenny's__ almost __a __young __Louisa. __I__ should __have __seen __it __coming_. But he knew that would lead him nowhere. "So… what now, then ? Are we just resuming our lives and pretend you never left ?"

"Now, Hugo, we focus on saving your daughter, this town, and eliminating the strongest coven in North America. Then we'll see what we'll do."

* * *

><p>When Becca and Joan had left for Italy, Dan had immediately warned Esme, who had taken him and the coven to Italy at once using a private jet. Dan immediately sent a message to the Organization's headquarters. They'd want to know this.<p>

Alice was sent to make the big entrance, but the rest of the coven followed shortly afterwards. Esme had walked forward and bowed — very slightly — to Nickalas.

The blonde man spoke first. "And what deal do you have for me, Esme ?" Dan saw that Joan was surprised Esme did the talking — she probably didn't know Esme was the leader of the coven. _So __many __things __she __doesn't __know_. She stopped paying attention when Edward came close to her. He hugged her and started whispering frenetically to her. Dan didn't need a vampire's hearing to know he was trying to — and probably succeeding in — get her back. He had after all claimed he would leave her for Jenny.

Esme waited to have everyone's attention to answer. "Help us kill those two humans Joan ask you to kill — and all those who stand by their side."

Ralph Volturi smirked. "That's no deal."

"Those who will stand by their side will be the Unit's top agents — and I also suspect the Unit's head to be there. They're on the move as we speak, gathering in Forks. If you help us, we all get rid of the Unit. This is about making common cause against a greater threat."

Ralph shook his head, stubborn. "The Unit is no threat. Twelve years and they couldn't get any of us down."

"Twelve years is not much, even by human standards. How many of our subjects were killed in the meantime ? How many covens ? How many influential figures we tried to place in human positions of power ?"

The woman on the third throne — Sulpicia, Dan thought she was called — smirked. "If you're speaking of your Seymour, the man was reckless. He didn't even think about hiding his eyes !"

"And they didn't even try to hide their assault. They had brought the media along ! Soon they'll expose us, and then what ? We can't face all of humanity."

"This is ridiculous" Ralph said, with the tone of someone who's older and knows better. Although Dan doubted that he was really older than Nickalas, Sulpicia or Esme. "They'd never —"

"Enough, Ralph." Nickalas said. "I think Esme's right. A large hit against the Unit… it's definitely something I'd want to do." He smiled, uncovering his fangs. "Do you have a plan ?"

Dan stepped forward. "I do." They all turned and stared at him, as surprised as he expected. Even Esme couldn't hide it completely from her face.

"Really ?" Ralph Volturi sounded skeptical.

"I'll let the mastermind of it speak for himself" Dan said, pointing to the entrance as the Leader entered.

"Jesus !" Joan shouted — but Edward quickly silenced her — with a kiss, no less.

The Leader smiled. "Hello, Joan."

"Another human ?" Sulpicia Volturi let out, visibly disappointed.

"I believe you met my second-in-command when you were pretending you were about to kill Edward Cullen." That was enough to get the Volturi's attention. As for the Cullens, they'd seen what the Leader was capable of when he single-handedly repelled a Unit team at their house. When the Leader noticed that he had everyone's attention, he explained his plan. "I'll provide you with equipment to be on par with the Unit's. We'll fight them at the Cullens' house in Forks." No one seemed to object with that part.

"And what do you ask in exchange ?" Esme Cullen asked, her face inexpressive as ever.

The Leader turned to Joan. "I'm going to ask something to that young girl."

Joan gasped, blushing, and said, hurriedly, "Anything you'll want, Jesus !"

"I want your blessing to take one of your friend's life."

Joan's eyes widened with surprise. "Who ?"

"Jacob Black."

"Okay." She hadn't even waited a second to think about it ! Dan chuckled inside. It was almost _too_ easy.

The Leader nodded. "Very well, then. Give me one day to prepare, and in two days we'll be in Forks, ready for battle. Until then…" he nodded at Dan, who followed him to the exit.

"No, wait !" Dan turned to see who had spoken — Edward Cullen. "I would like to ask you a favor." He paused dramatically. "I want to marry Joan before the battle." He turned to the girl. "If you agree, of course."

"Yes !" she shouted. "Yes, I do !"

"What does that have to do with me ?" the Leader asked, frowning.

"I want the Pope to marry us."

The Leader shrugged, smirking. "Okay. I don't see why not. Come tomorrow by the Vatican. Come on, Dan, we have to go now. We have a wedding and a battle to plan."

Dan was already bored before the wedding ceremony had even started. _Don't__ think __about __that. __Think __about __what __you'll __get _after _the __wedding_. Everything was ready — the Pope was waiting by the altar in Saint Peter's basilica, the Leader was among the guests. Jasper Cullen was Edward's best man, and Becca was Joan's maid of honor. Edward Cullen himself was already waiting by the altar, but Joan had yet to make her entrance.

Finally, she did. Carlisle was leading her to the altar — her father was in Forks and they had no time, or will, to bring him to Rome. She was wearing a sleeveless white dress with a full skirt that reached her ankles, letting all see her shoes, bright red stilettos. She wore a white sash at the waist with a flower design and a silver tiara held her veil. She walked to the altar, and the Pope started reciting the ages-old blabber about eternal love and the sacred status of marriage. Dan couldn't care less about what he said.

Finally, the "I do" part came, the lovebirds passed a ring on each other's fingers, kissed. Then, Carlisle led the guests to another part of the building where the reception would take place. Only Esme, Dan, the Leader, the Pope and the newlyweds remained in the church.

"Joan… It is time for me to turn you." The girl nodded solemnly. Edward used his own fangs to open a wound in his right hand, and made Joan drink. Dan watched, immobile, as the girl drank. Not a drop of blood stained her dress. When she was done, Edward took her head between hands, and snapped it violently. Dan heard the _crack_ of the girl's spine, who fell on the ground, dead. No one was alarmed by this — she would soon come back as a vampire.

Esme exchanged a look with Dan and nodded. Time to make the next move. As Joan lay on the ground, Edward turned on the Leader, a bestial look on his face. The man, unfazed, simply said "You've got to be kidding. I can kill a dozen vampires or hybrids with my equipment. You saw it in action." Edward marched towards the Leader, as Dan himself made his way across the room. Too focused on the vampire, the man didn't notice Dan before he stabbed him in the back. Speechless, the Leader fell on the church's floor, dead in an instant.

Near the altar, the Pope gaped. Only when Esme, Edward and Dan turned to him did he realize he was in some serious trouble. Shuddering, he walked behind the altar — as if it offered any protection. "Why… Why did you do that, Dan ?"

"It's all about power, old man. Esme and I want it, and the Leader wouldn't let us have it. After all, he found out about the werewolf. So we had to eliminate him."

"I'll… I'll warn the others… you'll all pay for this !" He tried to run for the door, but Edward blocked his way, caught him and threw him back on the altar. The old man staggered and fell on the ground. Esme went to kneel beside him.

"You're number two of the Organization, I hear. And you'll be a good old man and appoint my friend Dan as your new Leader. Then I _might_ let you live."

The old man nodded frantically.

* * *

><p>When Joan woke up, she felt… different. Everything around her felt… better. Colors were brighter, shapes were clearer, sounds were sharper, smells were richer. She had the feeling she could <em>taste<em> things, but there was nothing in her mouth.

Then the memories flooded back. _The__ wedding. __I'm _married _! __And__ he __turned __me__ !_ Joan was now a _vampire_ ! Was that what it felt like, being a vampire ? She realized she was lying on the ground, and got to her feet. She heard someone coming from behind her. With her sense of smell, she knew who that was — her beloved, her _husband_. Edward. She turned and took him in her arms.

"Edward. I love you."

"I know."

Then a feeling came, like fire burning in her throat. She let out a scream and fell on her knees, hands clasped around her neck. Panting, she managed to say "What's… happening ?"

Esme walked by. "She's thirsty." Joan noticed she sounded nothing like the ditzy woman she'd always known — yesterday, she had been cold, but right now she sounded really dangerous. The woman took her by the hand. "Come. You have to feed." Joan sheepishly followed her along hallways. She heard footsteps behind them — two people followed. Edward, and… ? She could not smell the other. They reached a large room, where the Cullens, the Volturi and other wedding guests were gathered.

Esme turned to look behind her and talked to someone Joan did not see. "You'll want to get your sister out before we begin. This will be ugly." Joan heard someone nod — she _heard__ him __nod_ ! — and saw a tanned young man rushing past her to the crows. _I__ know __him_, she realized, _that's__ Dan_. Why did he have blood on his hands ? And why did that blood appeal so much to Joan ? She tried to follow him to enjoy the scent of the blood, but Edward held her back. Finally, Dan came back with a girl — _Becca,__ my __best __friend __Becca_ — and they left the room, that Esme locked behind her.

The woman then turned to Joan once more. "It's time to feed, Joan."

Joan stared at her, confused. "But… Don't you eat animals ? Edward said you didn't feed on humans ?"

Esme smiled. "If he had told you we drank human blood, you would have been scared away, and you wouldn't be here today. Don't you think that would have been terrible ?"

Joan paused for a second, trying to think about it. But the fire in her throat distracted her. In the end, she decided to trust Ward. She had always trusted him — she might as well keep trusting him. "Whatever. I can't get over it."

"Good. Follow me, I'll find you someone tasty."

* * *

><p>"Tomorrow's the battle, then ?" Jenny asked her father.<p>

The man nodded. "I'm afraid so. My contact in Rome is positive. The vampires are barely hiding anymore, there, and they're not too secretive about their plans. The Pope's death is probably related."

Jenny nodded. "Do you think we can win ?"

Lewis nodded. "If someone can win this battle, it's Jane."

"You mean Louisa." _My__ mother_. The woman had mostly avoided the topic of her identity, focusing on teaching Jenny as much as possible in the short time they had. She _was_ a good teacher, but Jenny had hoped to be explained what was going on. Maybe her father would know ?

The man chuckled. "Jane's her middle name. I always called her that way when we were young. I've been her best friend since we were old enough to have friends at all. As a kid, she was ashamed of her first name — she felt it was too exotic. Later on, she got over it, but I never stopped calling her Jane."

"I don't quite get it. How is possible that my mother is also Joan's mother ?"

"She might explain you best — it was her choice, after all. But from what I understood — when she realized she was in love with Hugo, she started to be uncomfortable about it. You see, she knew she was a witch, and she feared that getting together with Hugo, having a kid with him… He would have to raise a witch, and she didn't want to inflict that on him. So she asked me to be the father of her eldest daughter. As a… precaution."

"That's a weird reason to have a kid."

Her father nodded. "Yes it is. It doesn't mean we didn't love you, Jenny." She nodded — she didn't doubt that. At least not _his_ love for her. "Later on, Hugo and Brian had had an argument," Jenny knew of the two men's relationship — Brian himself had told her about it — "and Jane — I mean, Louisa — kind of jumped on the opportunity to have… some time… with Hugo. That's when Joan was conceived. They broke up shortly afterwards, and Louisa raised the girl for two years. Then she was attacked by an empath vampire, who turned her into a hybrid. I managed to save her life, but she feared she might hurt the child nonetheless. So she asked me to claim she was dead, and I left Joan to Hugo's care while Louisa left to create the Unit. Had that vampire not attacked, or picked another victim… Louisa would have simply raised Joan on her own, and you would have met her." He sighed.

It was at that moment that Louisa came back — she had been checking on the agents she'd called a few days ago. Everyone quickly gathered in the living room to listen to her plan.

"We've got plenty of men in town, ready for action. We tried to take the Cullens' house while they were away, but Esme has placed defenses and I just can't disable them. Apparently the ground is rich in magical energy."

Jenny's dad nodded. "I suspected that. She built of house where it would amplify her witch powers."

"Yeah, well, that shouldn't stop us. I have studied these defenses — if Esme wants to get inside, she'll have to disable them herself. So we won't have to bother about them during the battle." The nodded their understanding. "On to the other thing I found out. I know what the Organization's after."

"And what is that ?" Jacob asked.

"You." She waited for everyone's shock to fade, and explained. "The book you gave me, Lewis — it held an interesting piece of information. Apparently, what makes vampires… well, vampirism is part of a curse that was cast several thousands of years ago. But a certain ritual, combined with a werewolf's blood, on the proper place, allows to modify that curse."

"Why would the Organization want to lift the curse ?" Hugo asked. "They want to control vampires, right ?"

"Not lift it. Modify it. For instance by binding all vampires to their will — in a single move."

"Turn them all into instant slaves." Lewis said.

"Exactly."

"But, wait," Emmet intervened, "why would the Cullens help them do that ?"

Louisa shook her head. "I don't know. I have two theories. One, they are the Organization's pawns."

Lynne frowned. "That doesn't sound like the Cullens I know."

The silver-haired woman nodded. "Indeed. Second theory — Esme intends to double-cross the Organization and use the ritual to control vampires herself."

"They're backstabbing each other," Brian said, grinning. "That's a good thing."

"Wait" Jenny said. She had just realized something. "If what they want is Jacob… You're not going to let him take part in the battle, are you ?"

Louisa grimaced. "Unfortunately, that's not an option. If Jacob's not there, they won't fight us — they'll run and try to get him wherever he's hidden. And I can't afford men to protect him. No, Jenny, the best thing is still to have Jacob come with us."

Jenny was about to protest, but Jacob stopped her. "I don't mind, Jenny. I'm ready. So are you." Smiling, he added, almost mockingly, "You won't let them get me, will you ?"

She couldn't help but smile herself. "You're right. I won't."


	25. Chapter 24 — Ritual

When Brian gazed upon the clearing where the Cullens' house stood, he couldn't repress a sigh. At least two hundred vampires had been gathered — not so much a surprising feet considering the Cullens had been joined by troops sent by the Volturi. Parere had managed to gather about as many of her agents — maybe a little more — in the past week.

They came to the Cullens' house in vans, bringing in medical equipment, weapons and some other of the Unit's tools. Discretion wasn't the point, anyway — the Cullens knew they were coming. Parere — _Louisa_, he corrected himself — had prepared a barrier around the location during the few days the Cullens had been away, to prevent any vampire from leaving the area.

Parere finally gave the order to start the battle. Using long-ranged weapons, the agents rained incendiaries down on the vampires. However, as the second wave of projectiles was just shot, they stopped in mid-air, where they exploded. _Esme_. The effect of surprise hadn't really helped them a lot.

It was time to go fight directly. A bold move, Brian recognized, but the only one that would work. Killing a vampire stealthily when he was aware you were hunting him down was difficult ; if one of them was a witch who could protect the others, it was near impossible. The Unit agents were trained for such situations, anyway. What bothered Brian were the few people who were not, not being part of the Unit. Jenny, mostly. _She __has__ nothing __to__ do __with __it_. Brian knew she was capable, but he still felt her apprentice — he had already come to think of her that way — wasn't ready for such a fight. _Stop __thinking __about__ it. __You __tried __to __dissuade __her_. At least he had managed to convince Hugo to remain with the medical team.

He led a group of hybrids through the trees, trying to be as silent as possible. Even if they didn't have the advantage of surprise anymore, it would be best if their enemies didn't know where the attack was coming from. Other groups would come from various directions specifically for that reason.

It seemed the Cullens had planned for that, though — they stumbled upon a group of half a dozen vampires in the woods, probably scouts. Brian ordered his men to hide, but the vampires had seen them. The agents shot two vampires before they could attack, but the others quickly used the trees as cover. Then, a wave of energy burst from their hiding place, coming straight for them. _Of__ course.__ The __Organization __helps __them_.

"Watch out !" Brian shouted as he ran, trying to figure out how to hide from this. A few of his men were hit by the wave, and dropped on the ground, seemingly dead. The others ran away, but they couldn't outrun it forever. Another agent — Janus, Brian noted — was about to get hit by the wave as well, but he grabbed a low branch and climbed on it. Surprisingly, he managed to get up on time, and the wave went by, leaving him unharmed. "In the trees !" Brian told his men. One more agent was hit by the wave, but the others made it in the trees on time to avoid it.

From there, Brian led them, jumping from tree to tree in case the vampires used that… weapon again. They found however that the scouts were running away — probably to warn the rest of the Cullens. Brian ordered his men to launch a smoke bomb ; one of the components of that smoke was vervain essence, and it managed to slow the vampires down a bit, enough to let the agents catch up. They took the vampires down quickly. When Brian saw the one he had killed, he felt forced to spread the word. The others would like the good news, small as it was.

"Jasper Cullen's dead."

* * *

><p>The fighting had only started a dozen minutes ago, but Lynne could see the battle was already shifting in their favor. Yet she was far from rejoicing. Parere, John, herself and a dozen Unit agents had followed Alice Cullen to the back of the house, where they had been ambushed by twice as many vampires. Despite Parere's precaution of using vervain, Alice managed to anticipate their moves — probably focusing on her own subordinates' future to bypass the protection — and directed her troops efficiently to make sure they weren't killed. Parere had warned the team that it might happen, but it was none the less disturbing.<p>

Lynne aimed for one vampire, then, right before pulling the trigger, noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She spun and shot the vampire coming from her right, and surprisingly, hit him — Alice couldn't see that coming. _Of__ course. __She __only __sees__ our __decisions_. Parere had warned her of that too, but Lynne hadn't understood what it meant until now.

Her first target was dangerously close now ; Lynne aimed, but did not shoot. Instead, when the vampire was almost on her, she dropped flat on the ground. That technique had worked in her hotel room in Columbia and worked just as well this time — the vampire's momentum carried him over her head. She got back up to shoot him, only to watch Parere take care of him, a fireball erupting from her hand. The two women's gazes crossed for a second, before Lynne had to shoot a vampire coming in the witch's back. She missed her heart, but he was stopped in his charge and another agent took care of her.

In the distance, Lynne glimpsed John, trying to keep two vampires at bay — he didn't manage to shoot them, but they didn't dare come too close either. Lynne ran to go help him, but she was interrupted when three vampires blocked her way. She faced those, trying to decide everything at the last moment, and managed to kill one. Then she noticed the other two had stopped trying to get close to her, and heard something coming from behind. She ducked reflexively, and felt something go through her left shoulder as she fell to the ground, face first.

Ignoring the pain as best as she could, she raised her head to see Alice Cullen land nimbly in front of her. With her hand, she felt something sharp was stuck in her shoulder — probably one of the many stakes lying around. _Had__ I __reacted__ a__ moment __later, __that __would __have __hit __my __heart_, she realized. Doing her best to ignore the pain — and resisting the urge to pull it out — she got back on her feet, pointing her gun at Alice, who smirked.

"And then what ?" the vampire asked. "You won't kill me. I can see it. And I don't think you'd dare shoot me with all my men around you, anyway."

Lynne looked around to see she was right — Lynne had been surrounded. At least fifteen vampires were around her. Parere was standing behind Lynne, and the two were along inside that circle of vampires. _Where__ are __the __others__?_ She could see corpses in the distance, but couldn't tell if all of their group was lying there.

Parere was the first to act, as a wall of flames raised around the two women. Lynne immediately understood, and shot stakes through it as fast as possible, not bothering to aim. She didn't need to hit the vampire's heart if her wooden stakes took fire. She could hear the woman behind her doing the same, using her guns for once — to save strength, Lynne guessed.

Alice Cullen reacted quickly, though. She said something to one of the vampires, who ran away and into the house, then came back — all in less than a few seconds — with a metallic sphere. Alice threw it on the ground near Lynne and the wall vanished. _Right.__ They __have __the __Organization's __technology_. In her headset, she heard Parere whisper that she couldn't raise another wall.

She reloaded her gun, ready to face the vampires without any protection, when something exploded behind Alice Cullen, killing three of her men in the process. When the smoke faded, Lynne saw John, who ran in their direction. He threw another incendiary grenade and aimed his gun at Alice Cullen, who jumped at him. Lynne heard the gunshot, but the stake only scratched the vampire's feet as she raised in the air, hitting John at full speed. John put up a fight, but it was hopeless. Even from where she was, Lynne could hear it when Alice snapped his neck.

However, when the vampire got on her feet, she staggered as she turned around to face Lynne. Alice looked down at her belly, almost surprised to see a stake stuck there — probably by John as the vampire was killing him. Lynne immediately noticed the opportunity that was offered to her and shot two more stakes at Alice's legs. Almost surprisingly, they hit, pinning her to the ground. As she was walking to the Cullen, another vampire tried to stop her, but she mindlessly shot him down. Then, she crouched next to the black-haired vampire.

"Alice Cullen. I have a few questions for you."

"Save your breath. I will not answer them !" For someone who was obviously in pain and pinned to the ground, she was acting quite fiercely.

Lynne frowned and decided to ignore her. "Could you locate covens affiliated to the Cullens ? Your friends ? Your enemies ? Could you tell us who they are, where they are, who we could recruit and who we should bring down, and how ?"

"That's one long question. Anything else ?" She was almost smirking — _smirking_ ! As if she was the one in control !

"Which of you killed my daughter ?"

Alice smiled. "Edward. He'll find you soon enough, too, I think." Edward. So it _was_ him, in the end. Lynne was not surprised.

Lynne was about to ask more, but Parere arrived at that moment. "We're clear here. Has she told you anything yet ?"

Lynne got on her feet, shaking her head. "No. I think you should try to convince her yourself. I have a personal issue to settle."

As she was making her way to the front of the house, she heard Parere's voice in her headset.

"I've got a Cullen. She has the information we need, and is willing to cooperate. Don't refrain from killing them anymore. Over."

_I__ wasn't __going __to __ask __for __permission,__ but __I__ guess __this __is __okay,__too._

* * *

><p>Hugo had asked to go help to the front, but Brian and Louisa — he still couldn't believe that <em>Louisa<em> was there, leading a small army of trained vampire hunters — had teamed up on him and convinced him to stay behind. _You'll __help __us__ more __with __your __talents __as__ a __doctor, __Hugo. __You're __not __trained __to __fight __vampires__ — __you'd __just __put __yourself __in __danger_. And so on.

So he was waiting, by the vans that had brought the team there, in case someone came by to ask for help. He couldn't see the battleground from where he was, but he heard pretty much everything that was going on. Taunts, screams, shouts, explosions, gunshots, and more.

One of those screams, he recognized all too much. _Joan__!_ That was his daughter — he knew it. She needed help. _His_ help. Forgetting all that was going on — that Joan was technically an enemy, that he was a human among supernatural creatures, and that he couldn't fight — he grabbed on of the Unit's spare weapons in the van, and ran down the road to the clearing surrounding the Cullens' house. Joan screamed again, and he spotted her. She was being held and used as a shield by… was it Esme Cullen ? Hugo ran again, to save his daughter.

One vampire noticed the newcomer, then another — Hugo shot both of them down without so much as a thought, and kept going. He wasn't even surprised by how easy it was, focused as he was on saving his daughter. Two Unit agents noticed him and followed him, guarding his back as he was carving his way through the Cullens' followers.

He finally reached his daughter, and it _was_ indeed Esme holding her, as a hostage. The girl was screaming to let her go. Hugo noticed the sun making Joan's skin sparkle. _Oh,__no_. No time for this, though. Whether they had turned her or not, she was his daughter.

"What are you doing ? Let my daughter go !"

Joan stared at him, seemingly unable to believe her father was there, fighting for her. Esme was less surprised. "Well, mayor Smith, just tell those men to lower their weapons !" Hugo suddenly noticed that agents had her surrounded and pressed against the house's massive wall. That was why she used Joan — as a human shield. A _vampire_ shield, Hugo corrected himself.

_What__ to __do__ ? __Brian, __Lynne, __Louisa, __what __would _you _do __?_

* * *

><p>Brian was just done leading his team against a small coven — one he had tried to eliminate in Illinois a few years ago, coincidentally. What was their name ? The Seagull coven ? He remembered them as a larger coven, though. He looked around to see if he was needed anywhere, when he noticed someone that shouldn't have been there. Hugo. <em>What<em>_is__he__doing__here__?_ Then he saw Hugo was talking to someone. Walking closer, Brian realized it was Esme Cullen, holding Joan in front of her.

Of course. The agents didn't want to kill Joan — they had been informed of her situation. Brian had to help Hugo, no matter how. He walked to his lover, but was soon interrupted by a couple vampires. One of his men shot the first, Brian himself took care of the second. When he looked at Hugo again, he noticed a shadow moving insanely fast in the man's direction from behind. That made Brain lose all forms of carefulness ; he broke into a run, going faster than he'd ever run before, managing to get in the vampire's way in the nick of time. He found himself on the ground, Carlisle Cullen above him. The vampire tried to bite, but Brian managed to hold him back. Other vampires arrived with Carlisle, but Brian's men took care of those.

Suddenly, Carlisle stopped struggling, his eyes glazed. Brian blinked, and finally took notice of the stake going through the vampire's chest as an inhuman scream raised somewhere near Brian. He pushed the corpse away to see who had shot — it was Hugo. The man helped Brian on his feet, who then looked at the scream's origin.

It was Esme Cullen, obviously weakened by the loss of her Knight, as Lewis had told them. But she wasn't only weakened. She was also furious. Brian had never seen eyes that held such a form of pure anger. And he definitely didn't expect Esme Cullen to show so much emotion. Still screaming — a shrill noise noise that hurt Brian's ears — the woman raised her hand, slowly. In it, a knife appeared — a slim stiletto. Its blade was dripping with a substance Brian did not recognize. How Esme had done that, Brian couldn't tell — he wasn't really an expert in magic. _What__ does __she __intend __to __do__ with__ —_

He understood. Too late. He raised his gun, trying to pin her arm to the wall, but she lowered it too fast. She stabbed Joan in the neck with that knife. The girl gasped, and fell to the ground as Esme let go of her. The knife was sticking out, reminding Brian of a bee's stinger stuck in the girl's flesh. Before Brian could move, Esme ran. He prepared himself to fight, and was surprised when she ran _away_.

Hugo ran to his daughter's body, and knelt beside it. Brian wanted to hold him, to comfort him, but things weren't over. He tried to follow Esme, but soon gave up. The woman was running faster than any vampire Brian had followed before ! He kept watching her, following from a distance, and saw her run to Jenny, who was fighting a small group of vampires alongside Jacob and Emmet, sword in hand. Why she wasn't using her magic, Brian didn't know — or care, right now. Powerless from where he was, Brian could only watch as Esme caught Jacob from behind and ran with him in the woods.

_Damn __it,__no__!_ The werewolf was exactly what she wanted, if Lewis and Louisa were right. He tried to run faster, but he couldn't. He noticed that Jenny went after the witch as well, leaving Emmet to hold back the remaining vampires.

_Just hold on, girl. I'm coming._

* * *

><p>Lynne found him as he was trying to escape in the woods. She followed him, not even bothering to hide or gain advantage. Lynne just felt utterly sure she could kill Edward Cullen, here and now.<p>

The vampire obviously panicked — maybe he'd seen her determined attitude, or he had read her mind despite the vervain and knew now that she knew as well. She knew he'd killed her daughter, her Britney. And she would make him _pay_. Edward broke into a run, and Lynne lost him — only for a moment, before he hit the wall set up by the Unit to prevent vampires from fleeing. She caught up with him, taking her time, and shot one stake through his leg. As she got closer, she added a few others — better be safe than sorry ; Edward _was_ supposedly very powerful.

"Hi, Edward. Remember me ?"

He looked at her, panicked. "What're you going to do ? You need me ! I have information ! I am heir to the coven, I know all about us and our allies !"

"Oh, really ? Are you sure no one else has access to that information ?"

Edward was looking around like crazy, as if help could come. Lynne moved around Edward to face the woods and the direction of the Cullen house, leaving her back turned to the magic wall. Finally, the vampire answered her. "Carlisle's dead. Esme's not dead or captured. I know it — she used Joan as a shield and left through the woods to try to capture the werewolf. She poisoned Joan to make sure she herself would be strong enough to escape. Oh, Joan, Joan, I'm so sorry…"

Lynne was troubled by this — he really sounded sincere. Maybe he had really loved Joan, after all. Not that it changed anything to what he was. "No one else, really ?" She wanted to kill him now, but it was too risky. Parere wasn't infallible, and if Alice had lied to her, they'd want Edward.

She shouldn't have worried. The vampire's eyes widened. "Alice." Lynne nodded, as he shook his head. "No, no, no, no, _no_ ! It can't be happening ! She was supposed to erase her memories if captured !"

Lynne smirked. "And you thought she wouldn't value her own life above yours ? Stupid boy. You may be much older than me, you are a stupid boy at heart. Aren't you ? A goddamn teenager. No fit coven leader."

He looked at her. "Why are you even talking ? I killed your daughter. You don't need me alive. Let's get this done. Joan will die. I don't want to outlive her."

Lynne smiled. She had intended to make him suffer, to really make him pay, but it didn't matter anymore. She also just wanted to get it done. "You won't have to ask that twice" she said. She pulled a lighter from her pocket, threw it at him, then watched him burn.

* * *

><p>Jenny hid behind a tree as she felt… <em>something<em> flowing beside her. _Calm__ down_, she thought. _She__ doesn't __know __you're__ a__ witch __yet. __You __can __get __her __by __surprise_. She had to believe that — if she couldn't take Esme by surprise, she was good as dead. _Is __Jacob __dead __already, __or__ is __she __keeping __him__ alive __for __her __ritual __?_ Best not to think about that. She thought Jacob was lying on the ground at the vampire's feet, but she didn't dare leave her cover and see if he was dead or not.

_Okay, __just __like __in __training. __First, __focus __and __open __up __your __senses._ That was already easy after just a week. _Feel __the __Power __flowing __inside __you_. That was easy enough as well. With the Power in her, Jenny suddenly felt her senses get much, much keener. Parere had once said that a fully-trained witch holding the Power had sharper senses than a vampire. Jenny could hear Esme's slight moves as the woman was waiting for Jenny to come out of hiding, she could smell the vampire, Jacob and the blood… _Stay __focused_.

Now to the really tricky part. She pictured the form she wanted to give to the Power. She prepared two weaves, inverted them as Parere had taught her — the process prevented other witches to know that she was using the Power — and she poured energy into them. _They__ seem__ steady __enough_. It would have to do, in any case. She jumped out of her hiding place, running as fast as she could, and unleash the first weave. It hit, miraculously, and knocked Esme to the ground with solid air. Jenny saw incomprehension on her face as she was hit, but wasted no time, and unleashed the second weave. It took the form of a stream of fire that engulfed the Cullen matriarch. When it stopped, Esme Cullen was dead — just a scorched body on the ground.

Jenny felt surprised, but it was quickly engulfed by exhaustion catching up on her — that was as big a feat with the Power as all she'd done thus far combined. She fell on her knees, and almost let herself slip into unconsciousness, but she forced herself to stand once more and walk to Jacob's body. There, she knelt and checked the boy's pulse. Breathing a sigh of relief, she realized he was alive — if barely. Still, he was losing blood quickly. Unsure of what to do, she called for help, which came in the form of Brian.

The man first noticed Esme's scorched corpse. "Is that _Esme__ Cullen_ ?"

"Later !" Jenny realized her tone was being more brutal than necessary, but didn't care. "Jacob needs help !"

Brian knelt beside her, took a look at the wound, and tore off a bit of Jacob's shirt to try to bandage the wound. "Won't last long" he said. "Come on, help me get him to Hugo. He needs a doctor." She nodded, and they did, quickly but carefully. When they reached the clearing, Jenny noticed the battle was over. Many corpses lay on the ground, humans, hybrids and vampires alike, but agents of the Unit were in control.

They found Hugo holding Joan in his arms. _Is__ she__… __?_ But no, Jenny noticed she was still alive, but badly wounded. Brian let Jenny with Jacob and went to talk to Hugo, whispering something to him. After what Jenny thought was hours, Hugo stood up and came to examine Jacob.

"He'll be all right. Brian, help me take him to the van where your medical equipment is stored." The two men carried Jacob away, leaving Jenny alone.


	26. Epilogue

She took in a deep breath, raised her hand to knock on the door, and lowered it again. Louisa had never appreciated hospitals — when she'd been young, her big brother, a sickly child, had spent too much time there, and after his death, she had soon started to fear being in a hospital, in case someone there could guess her true nature. But this was something she had to do. The girl in that room was, after all, her daughter.

They had had no choice but to bring her here. She might be a vampire, but they had needed equipment to keep her alive and the Unit didn't have those. Not near enough the Cullens' house, at least. Joan would have died, if they hadn't brought her here. Not that discretion was a problem — Hugo was a doctor at the hospital, after all, and had used his notoriety there to make sure no one would disturb them.

Louisa finally managed to get herself to knock on that door. Almost instantly, Jenny opened it. Louisa had found Jenny was able to sense other witches around her. An ability among many others that the girl — her daughter — would likely develop with time. Jenny was probably trying to control her expression, but she couldn't hide herself from Louisa's empathic abilities. The girl was feeling awful — Jacob had recovered from his injuries, but she probably still viewed Joan as her best friend, despite the recent events. Why Jenny blamed herself for what had happened to Joan, Louisa wasn't sure.

Jenny let her come in, closing the door behind her. Louisa first saw Joan on her bed, unconscious. She had been connected to a monitor engineered by the Unit, which kept bleeping at the same rhythm as Joan's blood was running through her body — that is, not very fast. Even for a vampire.

Hugo was in the room, of course — he hadn't left in the past two days since the battle. Louisa still felt a bit of regret when she saw Hugo — regret for how she had screwed up her one chance with him, and regret that she had indirectly brought him into this. She wasn't in love with him anymore — of that she was mostly certain — but she still felt that if she had done things properly, if she hadn't just slept with him on the first occasion… well, Joan wouldn't be there. Which means she wouldn't be dying.

Brian was here, too — of course. He wouldn't leave Hugo alone in such a situation. He was the first one to talk.

"Did you find anything ?"

Louisa hesitated for a second. She and Lewis had try to search what Esme had done to Joan. They hadn't figured it out until Louisa had talked with Lynne, and the woman had randomly given her the clue she needed. But should she say that to Hugo ? Wouldn't it be better to let him hope — _No. __No__ more __lying __to__ my __friends. __I__ have __used __them __as __tools __for __long __enough_. She wasn't sure it was the best option, but she was certain she _had_ to trust at least those few. So she explained.

"Esme… drains Joan." She pointed at the knife, still sticking from the girl's throat. They had tried to take it out, and had almost killed Joan in the process. "I'm not exactly sure how it works. It was just supposed to weaken Joan to strengthen Esme in the battle. I guess she wanted to make sure no one would stop her from completing the ritual." She paused for a second. "Since she's dead, the drain is slowly emptying Joan's life force trying to revive her."

Brian's eyes widened. "But… she can't be revived, right ?"

Louisa shook her head. "I'm fairly sure that's impossible. Which is the problem, sort of — that's why Joan is dying."

She saw Hugo flinch at the word, and cursed herself mentally. She should have been more tactful.

"So, if I hadn't killed Esme, she may have let Joan go ?" Jenny asked. Louisa felt the girl's feeling of guilt grow deeper.

"After the battle, she may have released Joan from the drain — but I think she wouldn't have. Edward was already certain Joan would die when Lynne killed him."

Jenny nodded, but Louisa sensed she wasn't really buying that explanation. _Only__ time __will __heal __that __sort __of __wound_. Jenny's, and Hugo's too. _He_ was certain Esme had stabbed Joan in a fit of frenzy due to him killing her Knight. Lewis and Louisa had both assured him that frenzy was not a usual consequence of the Knight's death, he hadn't changed his mind about it either.

"So there is nothing we can do ?" Hugo asked.

She looked away. She knew she shouldn't say that, but she had decided to be honest with him, and intended to keep being honest. "If there is, we can't find it. Lewis is still searching. But I studied this — from a witch's point of view. I don't think there's any way to heal Joan."

Surprisingly, Hugo didn't react to that. Whether he was holding his emotions back or if it just felt unreal to him, Louisa couldn't say — he was in such a grief for the last couple days that any other emotion was drowned out to her senses.

She took another deep breath. "There is something else I must tell you." She paused. "I'm going to have to leave."

"What ?" Jenny said. "Why ?"

"Alice's informations have proven valid so far. I have to plan, to organize… The longer we wait to take down the Cullens' subordinates and the lower our chances to get them all. And I have to make sure the Volturi won't try to seize control of the Cullens' lost powers. They lost followers here as well, but their leadership is intact. And then there's the Organization — I know nothing of what's happening to those, and I don't like that."

Hugo nodded. "So this is goodbye ?"

"I wouldn't leave if I didn't have to."

"Just like old times."

Louisa smiled sadly. "Yes. I suppose you're right. But I'll come back. Or at least I'll try to keep in touch. I promise." She turned to Jenny. "Your father can teach you most of what you need to know. However, if you need to know anything and he can't answer you —" she handed the girl a small note, "— contact me." The note appeared to be empty, but Jenny nodded. She knew how to trigger the spell that would show what was written on it.

She then turned to Brian. "You want me to come with you" he said, bitterly.

Louisa sighed. "That didn't cross my mind. I thought of _asking_ you to come with me, but I figured out your answer by myself."

"Does that mean I'm fired, Mrs Boss ?"

She couldn't help but chuckle. How Brian had come up with the same nickname as James, she could only guess. As far as she knew, the two didn't know each other. She regained composure before answering. "Not unless you want to leave us for good."

He seemed to think of it, but Hugo intervened. "You shouldn't leave them."

Brian turned to face him. "I shouldn't leave _you_."

Hugo nodded. "And Louisa understands. But someday, you'll want to go back to them. Don't waste that chance."

Brian sighed. "Fine. Let's do it your way. But if you give me an assignment and I want to stay here, I will."

"I expect no less of you, Brian." _Although__ I __may__ have __an _assignment _for __you __sooner __than __you'd __think_. If what Alice had said was true… Well, best not to think about it yet.

There was nothing more to be said. "Well, I should be going. Goodbye, Brian. Goodbye, Hugo. Goodbye, Jenny." _Goodbye,__ Joan_. As she made her way out of the room and closed the door, the monitor's bleeping slowed down and finally came to an end.


	27. Author's note

Hi readers ! Just a small author's note in case you haven't checked my other fics.

So, if you're reading this, it means you've finished reading _Brooding__ Lust_. But don't despair ! The story is far from over — well, Joan's story is, but the others still have plenty to live through. I'm not done torturing my characters, trust me.

So, as I post this little author's note, I've just added a new story to my account, with already a prologue and the first chapter. It's called _Brooding __Impostor_, and is a direct sequel of _Brooding __Lust_. Be sure to check it out !

Thanks guys !


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